Andreas Riis Cartensen

ANDREAS RIIS CARTENSEN (Denmark, 1844-1906).
"Pyramids by the Nile", 1890.
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 53 x 79 cm; 61 x 88 cm (frame).

Carstensen was an intrepid adventurer whose travels took him to places like Greece, Istanbul, Palestine and Egypt. In fact, many of his works reflect his experiences in these regions, painting landscapes, urban views and harbor scenes that captured the exotic atmosphere and light of these places. His travels to the Middle East were particularly influential on his art.

After several trips, a long stay in Quebec prompted Andreas Riis Cartensen to try his hand at drawing. He trained at the Copenhagen Technical College and later enrolled at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. From 1875 he participated regularly in the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. He continued his studies in Paris, at the École des Beaux-Arts, with Jean-Léon Gérôme. In 1879 he won the Neuhausenske Prize for a painting of a sunset on the Kattegat. In 1884, he fulfilled an old wish to visit Greenland and returned there in 1888. Two years later, he married and began a series of travels in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, including Egypt, creating eleven paintings commissioned by the brewer Carl Jacobsen, who was also a prominent art collector.