CARL HEINRICH BLOCH

This magnificent painting is the work of one of Denmark’s leading nineteenth-century artists. Carl Heinrich Bloch was one of ten children raised in a devoutly religious family. As a young boy, Bloch entered the school of naval cadets where he was enthralled by his art classes, taught by the well-known portrait and landscape painter Theodor Restorff. Encouraged to pursue his art studies diligently, Bloch devoted much time to drawing. Although he failed his naval examination, he was able to enter Copenhagen's Royal academy of art at age fifteen. Three years later he received a silver medal for a small sketch at the academy.

At age twenty, Bloch began exhibiting independent works, concentrating on portraits and genre paintings of farmers and fishermen. In 1859 he was awarded a travel scholarship from the academy to study in Rome. During his stay in Italy, his work began to reflect deeper concern with human emotion and spirituality. Bloch created monumental paintings of religious and Danish historical scenes that brought him great acclaim. In 1863 he painted Samson among the philistines, now hanging in Copenhagen’s National Museum of Art. The following year he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Art.

In 1865, near the end of his Italian studies, he received a commission from prominent brewer and art collector J.C. Jacobsen for twenty-three paintings on the life of Christ for King Christian IV's chapel at frederiksborg castle, a commission that required fourteen years to complete. Bloch displayed several paintings in the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878 where he received a first-place medal and the cross of the Legion of Honor. In 1883 he was commissioned to paint Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda for the Bethesda Indre Mission in Copenhagen. He also painted seven other large altarpieces for churches in Denmark and Sweden.

Of more than 250 paintings and 75 etchings produced during his lifetime, Bloch considered his religious paintings to be his most important contributions. His work continues to touch the sensitivities of viewers today as they contemplate the life of Christ through these paintings.