Exhibited: Charlottenborg 1843 no. 119.

Literature: Povl Eller, “Adam Oehlenschläger Portrætter”, Frederiksborg, The Museum of National History, 1958, mentioned pp. 90–91, no. 32. Ill. p. 91. The Nivaagaard Collection, “Guldalderens andet ansigt. Johan Vilhelm Gertner”, 2001, pp. 9–10.

Provenance: Bookseller Johan Dahl, Oslo (1843). High Court judge Christian Schmidth. His widow mrs Valborg Schmidth, her estate auction Winkel & Magnussen 263, 1940 no. 14. Harp player Henrik Boye (1958).

Gertner made several portraits of Adam Oehlenschläger, e.g. there is a later repetition of the same motif from 1846 at Frederiksborg Museum of National History, Hillerød (Inv. No. A 841), this with few changes in the orders and the collar.

In the present painting, Oehlenschläger is wearing the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Dannebrog (Dannebrogsmændenes hæderstegn), a breast star for commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog, and a breast star for commanders of the Swedish Royal Order of the Polar Star.

On the occasion of the present painting, Oehlenschläger wrote in 1842 the tribute poem with the title (in Danish) “To Gertner, when he had painted me”, published in F. L. Liebenberg (ed.), “Oehlenschlägers Poetiske Skrifter”, Selskabet til Udgivelse af Oehlenschlägers Skrifter, vol. 23, 1861, pp. 32–33.