Carl Vilhelm Oluf Peter Aarsleff (14 August 1852 – 4 January 1918) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

sculptor.

Biography

Aarsleff was born in Nyborg on the island of

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

. He trained as a

wood carver Wood carving is a form of woodworking by means of a cutting tool (knife) in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation ...

with his father before going to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

where he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1872. He graduated from the Academy in 1876. At the same time working in the studios of

Theobald Stein Theobald Stein (7 February 1829 – 16 November 1901) was a Danish sculptor. He was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and served as its director from 1883 to 1886. Among his most well-known works are the Niels Juel statue ...

Vilhelm Bissen Christian Gottlieb Vilhelm Bissen (5 August 1836 – 20 April 1913) was a Danish sculptor. He was also a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts with great influence on the next generation of Danish sculptors and for a while serv ...

and

Jens Adolf Jerichau Emil Jens Baumann Adolf Jerichau (17 April 1816 – 25 July 1883) was a Danish sculptor. He belonged to the generation immediately after Bertel Thorvaldsen, for whom he worked briefly in Rome, but gradually moved away from the static Neoclassici ...

. In 1876, he won the Academy's small gold medal and in 1880, its large gold medal. In 1881, he went abroad on a travel grant to further his studies, visiting

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. In 1890 he became a member of the Academy Council. He was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1901 and from 1914 to 1917 served as its director. Aarsleff's production of own works was relatively slow to get off the ground. He is best known for a number of statues and statuettes of young adults in a style influenced by

Bertel Thorvaldsen Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish and Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in ...

and particularly by

. He also made decorative works for several large architectural projects, including the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. From 1900 to 1912, he was engaged with the restoration of the

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

Margaret I of Denmark Margaret I ( da, Margrete Valdemarsdatter; March 1353 – 28 October 1412) was ruler of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (which included Finland) from the late 1380s until her death, and the founder of the Kalmar Union that joined the Scandinavian k ...

at Roskilde Cathedral. Borgmestergården (Mads Lerches Gård) i Nyborg

He became a Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

in 1912. He died in Copenhagen and was buried at Søllerød Kirkegård.

Legacy

Upon his death in 1918, 77 of his original works were donated to Nyborg. They are today exhibited in an extension to Mads Lerches Gård, a building from 1601 which houses the Østfyns Museer department of cultural history (''Borgmestergården'').

References

External links

Østfyns Museer website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aarsleff, Carl 1852 births 1918 deaths People from Nyborg Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Academic staff of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Directors of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts 20th-century Danish sculptors Male sculptors 20th-century Danish male artists 19th-century Danish sculptors Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog 19th-century Danish male artists

Biography

Legacy

See also

References

External links