Bertel Christian Budtz Müller (26 December 1837 – 30 December 1884) was a pioneering Danish photographer. He operated the photographic studio Budtz Müller & Co. at
Bredgade
Bredgade (literal translation, lit. "Broad Street") is one of the most prominent streets in Copenhagen, Denmark. Running in a straight line from Kongens Nytorv for just under one kilometre to the intersection of Esplanaden, Copenhagen, Esplanaden ...
21 in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
and was appointed as court photographer in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Aalborg
Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...
and then moved to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
Randers
Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is List of cities and towns in Denmark, Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 64,511 ().Alfred Benzon, founder of Alfred Benzon A/S, at the Swan Pharmacy in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
in 1859.
Career
Müller and Benzon opened a shop with photography equipment at
Bredgade
Bredgade (literal translation, lit. "Broad Street") is one of the most prominent streets in Copenhagen, Denmark. Running in a straight line from Kongens Nytorv for just under one kilometre to the intersection of Esplanaden, Copenhagen, Esplanaden ...
21 in 1862. It was converted into a photographic institute with student programmes in 1863. Benzon left the company in 1866. Müller was instead joined by the art historian Philip Weilbach until 1871, and from then on owned Budtz Müller & Co. alone.
The firm offered a wide selection of high quality stereoscopies and photographs in large and small formats from Copenhagen. Other images were of prominent cultural figures such as Grundtvig,
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fai ...
, actors in costumes, works by
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen (; sometimes given as Thorwaldsen; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danes, Danish-Icelanders, Icelandic Sculpture, sculptor and medallist, medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–183 ...
and 33 stereoscopies from
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
recorded in 1866. Other series included Danish monuments (1865-) with text by Weilbach, Knippelsbro (1869), paintings in the Royal Danish Painting Collection at
Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace (, ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also ...
(1869), drawings by Danish and foreign artists (1872), paintings by Danish, Norwegian and Swedish artists (1872), drawings and paintings by Holger Roed (1874), weapons in the Royal Danish Arsenal (1877), and
Christiansborg Palace
Christiansborg Palace (, ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also ...
(1884). A folder with 35 images by Haldor Topsøe from ''Fyllas expedition to Greenland was also published in 1877.
Budtz Müller collaborated with Jean Christian Ferslew in introducing
photolithography
Photolithography (also known as optical lithography) is a process used in the manufacturing of integrated circuits. It involves using light to transfer a pattern onto a substrate, typically a silicon wafer.
The process begins with a photosensiti ...
to the Danish market and created the first photolithographic maps for the Danish
General Staff
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...
, as well as a number of reproductions of manuscripts for the
Arnamagnæan Institute
The Arnamagnæan Institute (, formerly ) is a teaching and research institute established in 1956 to further the study of the manuscripts in the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection, the collection bequeathed by the Icelandic scholar and antiquarian ...
. Müller and Ferslew published print from 1495 of ' in 1873.
Budtz Müller was in 1869 appointed as Swedish and Norwegian court photographer and in 1870 also as Danish court photographer. He wrote a number of articles about the history of photography in ''Den fotografiske Forenings Tidende'' in 1865.
Müller's photographic studio in Bredgade was continued for a few years after his death by Ludvig Johan Offenberg (1863–1904) under the name Budtz Müller.
Personal life
Müller married Maren Christine Petersen (1840–1878), a foster daughter of dyer Hans Nikolaj Edinger Grundtvig (1807–1887) and Anna Marie Petersen (1804–1865), on 4 December 1863 in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen.