August Andreas Jerndorffartist • painterOldenburg (Duitsland) 1846-1906 Kopenhagen

The realistic Danish painter August Jerndorff was born in Oldenburg, Germany, where his father was a court painter. He studied at the renowned Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (1863-1868) and was also a student of the Danish landscape painter P. C. Skovgaard. In 1875 he went to Italy with a scholarship from the academy, where he stayed for three years and painted cityscapes, among other things. In 1880, Jerndorff co-founded an alternative art academy in Copenhagen, the forerunner of 'Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler' (1882), a school that was founded in response to the academy's outdated artistic views and would play an important role in the breakthrough of modern art in Denmark. August Jerndorff eventually specialized in painting portraits.