C. A. Jensen (b. Bredsted near Husum 1792, d. Copenhagen 1870)
A pair of portraits of West Indies Apothecary, later surgeon to the garrison, university treasurer J.T.L. Otto (1766–1827) and his wife Mrs Albertine Vilhelmine Frederikke Otto née Conradi (1772–1844). He is wearing a black buttoned coat, black waistcoat, choker and white stock. Dark gray background. She is wearing a coloured turban, red and green on a white background. In her ear, a thin golden ring in which hangs a clear blue stone. Low-necked black dress, black belt with gold buckle, white double collar and gold chain around her neck. Dark gray background. Both signed and dated C. A. Jensen 1827. Oil on canvas. 64×51 cm each. (2). Period frames.
Sigurd Schultz, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of C.A. Jensen, 1932, no. 151 and 152, ill. p. 218 and mentioned p. 228. Here, Sigurd Schultz writes (in Danish): “First should be mentioned a pair of portraits of a sympathetic elderly couple, surgeon to the garrison Otto, former pharmacist in the West Indies, and his wife; he is a humorous old gentleman, she a stately woman with a coloured turban on her head. An almost dramatic width distinguishes the woman's portrait. It has been kept in a clear silver tone, the carnation is cold, gray shiny in the few, very light shadows, warmer in the light - a feature that is characteristic of several of Jensen's attempts to remove the more old-fashioned painterly vision, but which he kept giving up again”. About the pharmacist's portrait, Schultz also mentions a little later: “It possesses the precious naturalness and the balance between characteristic and painterly attitude that Jensen has when he is at his best”.
Provenance: Broker Ernst Meyer, Copenhagen (1932).
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