Frederik Nicolai Jensen (1818 - 1870)

Frederik Nicolai Jensen

Frederik Nicolai Jensen, also known as Frits Jensen or Fritz Jensen, was a Norwegian landscape, history and portrait painter of the Düsseldorf School, theater teacher, Evangelical Lutheran pastor and politician. In 1841 he enrolled to study painting at the Düsseldorf Art Academy, having already been in Bergen. In 1844 he became one of the founders of the democratic and academic-critical group Crignic, whose name is made up of the initials of its members. He stayed in Düsseldorf until 1845. One of his main works, the portrait of Ingeborg ved havet (Ingeborg by the Sea), was created that year. After stays in Munich and a trip to Italy, Jensen returned to Bergen and tried to make a living as a portrait painter. He was also interested in the theatre. In 1854 he took a job as vicar of Bø (Nordland). The fact that he was still painting at this time is shown by the altarpiece that he created in 1869/1870 as a triptych for the Vågan Church in Kabelvåg on the Lofoten Islands. In the years 1862 to 1864 Jensen also worked as a politician. As a philosophical writer, he only became known in 1874 through the posthumously published work Treenighed paavist som Livets Lov (“Trinity as the Law of Life”) by Marcus Jacob Monrad.

Date and place of birt:	21 june 1818, Bergen, Norway
Date and place of death:	28 november 1870, Steigen, Norway
Nationality:	Norway
Period of activity:	XIX century
Specialization:	Artist, Historian, Landscape painter, Painter, Portraitist
Art school / group:	Düsseldorf school of painting, Gruppe Crignic
Genre:	History painting, Landscape painting, Portrait, Religious genre
Art style:	Realism