Thorvald Simeon Niss (7 May 1842 – 11 May 1905) was a Danish landscape painter who became interested in
marine art
Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main Sea in culture, inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the seaâ ...
after becoming a member of the
Skagen Painters
The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...
.
Biography
Born in Assens, he was the son of Niels Frederik Niss, a house painter, and his wife Barbara Kirstine. When he was 18, he became a painter's apprentice in Copenhagen where he tried to develop his artistic talents in the evenings. From 1861, he attended evening school at the Royal Danish Academy and from 1863 worked as a decorator at the
Royal Copenhagen
Royal Copenhagen, officially the Royal Porcelain Factory ( da, Den Kongelige Porcelænsfabrik), is a Danish manufacturer of porcelain products and was founded in Copenhagen in 1775 under the protection of Danish Dowager Queen Juliane Marie. It is ...
porcelain factory. In the late 1870s, he came into contact with
Otto Bache
Otto Bache (21 August 1839 – 28 June 1927) was a Danish Realist painter. Many of his works depict key events in Danish history.
Biography
At age eleven he received a dispensation and was admitted into the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, ...
who invited him to work in his studio where he became acquainted with the latest trends in French painting. By the beginning of the 1880s, he had become a modern landscape artist, comparable to
Christian Zacho
Peter Mørch Christian Zacho, usually known as Christian Zacho, (31 March 1843, in Grenå – 19 March 1913, in Hellerup) was a Danish landscape painter who is remembered for his idyllic scenes of Danish beech woods.
Early life
His education at ...
and
Godfred Christensen
Polycarpus Godfred Berry Wildenradt Christensen (23 July 1845, Copenhagen - 15 November 1928, Copenhagen) was a Danish landscape painter.
Biography
Christensen was born Copenhagen, the son of Mads Christensen and Anna Kirstine Wissing. Afte ...
."Thorvald Niss" ''Dansk Biograpfisk Leksikon''. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
The broad strokes and strong colours he applied to his autumn and winter landscapes brought him wide recognition. In 1882, his ''Septemberdag i Jægersborg dyrehave'' won him a gold medal in Vienna and the following year a winter landscape of the Folehaven woods was bought by
Statens Museum for Kunst
The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen.
The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...
, the Danish national gallery bringing him wider recognition. Thanks to a travel grant, in 1885 he went to Italy and Greece, and in 1889 to Paris. In 1887, he visited
Skagen
Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skagen is ...
where he became a member of artists' colony known as the
Skagen Painters
The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...
. There he painted the sea, adopting a new approach to
marine art
Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main Sea in culture, inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the seaâ ...
with his ''Morgengry'' (1888) and ''Strandparti. Grenen'' (1889). He went on to paint marine scenes elsewhere, especially of the Mediterranean."Thorvald Niss" ''Den Store Dansle''. Retrieved 15 October 2013. In the 1890s, he increasingly used etching for his marine scenes, some with symbolic undertones.
In 1883, he was awarded the
Eckersberg Medal
The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting.
The Ec ...
and the
Thorvaldsen Medal
The Thorvaldsen Medal (Danish: Thorvaldsens Medalje, Thorvaldsen Medaillen) is awarded annually with few exceptions to a varying number of recipients by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is its highest distinction within the visual arts. It ...
.
In 1887 he became a member of the
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark.
History
The Royal Dani ...
(re-elected 1890) and in 1892 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 ...
.
After suffering for a number of years from a nervous breakdown, he died in Frederiksberg and was buried at
Skagen Painters
The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...