Jørgen Roed, (13 January 1808 – 8 August 1888), Danish portrait and genre painter associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting, was born in Ringsted to Peder Jørgensen Roed and wife, Ellen Hansdatter.
Biography
Growing up
His father, a German immigrant, was a member of the town council, owned a farm where they raised animals and ran a distillery. He was one of five children. They were neighbors to the Vermehren family, whose son Frederik Vermehren would also become an artist and student of Roed.
Already while in school he had the opportunity to learn to draw and paint under schoolteacher J. J. Fyhn. Although the quality of that education was not particularly impressive, Roed's enthusiasm was enough to inspire his parents to send him to Copenhagen in 1822 after his confirmation to train at the Royal Danish Academy of Art ().
Training at the Academy
He was recommended to train under portraitist Hans Hansen, father of Constantin Hansen, where he studied privately, and began to paint. The most lasting result of his education under Hansen was the friendship Roed developed with Constantine, the teacher's son. Roed's training under Hansen was limited to making copies of other artworks, such as his first exhibited painting in 1824, an angel's head painted after another copy based on a work by Raphael. It was first in 1826 that he exhibited an independent piece, a portrait of his first art teacher.
He had also started his training at the Academy at the same time, first in the free hand drawing school in 1822, and then in 1825 in the School of Plaster Cast Painting. He exhibited at Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition for the first time in 1824, and continued showing there regularly throughout his life.
Hansen died in 1828, and both Roed and the younger Hansen came into training under Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, father of the "Golden Age of Danish Painting". Roed and Hansen were friends, and socialized much. Hansen was often a guest in the Roed's home, and they traveled together in Denmark painting side-by-side.
His academic years went slowly but evenly; he was a solid student, and a solid painter. Eckersberg had a strong influence on his artistic development. Roed became a lifelong and loyal admirer of Eckersberg, and his principles of exact and careful observations of nature.
He developed his own style within genre painting, and became proficient in portrait painting. He first won the Academy's little silver medallion along with a cash prize in 1831, and then the large silver medallion in 1833. He did not compete for the gold medallion.
He traveled to Norway in 1831.
He showed his talent as an architecture painter early on, and twice won competitions in this discipline at the Art Union (). He won the competition, themed "A public place or building" in 1836 with his painting "" ("View of Frederiksborg Castle, The Karrusel Gate"). Niels Lauritz Høyen, who selected the theme of the competition, was a critic, art historian, leader of the Art Union and teacher at the Academy at the time. In this way he was able to infect many young artists with his interest in nationalism, and to influence their artistic development. The painting is now in the collection of the Horsens Art Museum.
He painted a number of architectural paintings during the mid-1830s including a pair featuring Roskilde Cathedral. His painting "" ("A Street in Roskilde, in the Background the Cathedral") painted in 1835–1836 is in the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark. He features the cathedral in an atmospheric streetscape, which combines his architectural perspective with a sense of its surroundings and the people that live there.
Foreign study
Starting in 1835 he began seeking a travel stipend from the Academy, but he had stiff competition from both Wilhelm Marstrand and Louis Gurlitt, fellow students who would be prioritised higher than him for these limited funds. He, therefore, first received a two-year travel stipend in 1837, which was later renewed for a second two-year term. This allowed him to live in Italy from 1837 to 1841.
Before leaving on his travels he became engaged to Emilie Mathilde Kruse, who waited for his return to marry.