Carl H. Bloch Exhibit at BYU

Carl Heinrich Bloch (May 23, 1834 – February 22, 1890) was a Danish painter.

He was born in Copenhagen and studied with Wilhelm Marstrand at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) there. Bloch's parents wanted their son to enter a respectable profession - an officer in the Navy. This, however, was not what Carl wanted. His only interest was drawing and painting, and he was consumed by the idea of becoming an artist.Carl Bloch met his beloved wife, Alma Trepka, in Rome, where he married her in May 1868. They had a very happy and prosperous life together until her early death in January 1886. He was grief stricken and was left with 8 children to raise.


He was then commissioned to produce 23 paintings for the Chapel at Frederiksborg Palace. These were all scenes from the life of Christ which have become very popular as illustrations. The originals, painted between 1865 and 1879, are still at Frederiksborg Palace.The altarpieces can be found at Holbaek, Odense, Ugerloese and Copenhagen in Denmark, as well as Loederup, Hoerup, and Landskrona in Sweden.

Carl Bloch died of cancer on February 22, 1890. His death came as "an abrupt blow for Nordic art" according to an article by Sophus Michaelis. Michaelis stated that "Denmark has lost the artist that indisputably was the greatest among the living." Kyhn stated in his eulogy at Carl Bloch's funeral that "Bloch stays and lives."

For over 40 years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made heavy use of Carl Bloch's paintings, mostly from the Frederiksborg Palace collection, in its church buildings and printed media.

Many of these works are on display at the BYU Museum of Art in Provo, Utah. I am so excited to see these inspirational works on Valentines Weekend. It has been a dream of mine to sit and admire these works in person.

For further information please visit the following two websites.

http://www.carlbloch.org/
http://carlbloch.byu.edu