Ditlev Blunck (1798-1854), Youth. From the series: The Four Ages of Man, 1840-45
Blunck suddenly left Denmark in 1841, never to return.
For a so-called “consilia abeundi” had been issued against Blunck – meaning that a public institution (consilia) advices a person to leave (abeundi) the country for a while. Had Blunck stayed in the country it is likely that he would have been prosecuted for some form of sexual transgression, presumably linked to Blunck’s homosexuality.
Blunck’s style of painting is influenced by the “Nazarenes” (after “Jesus of Nazareth”), a group of primarily German artists who wished to express earnest emotions in contrast to French art and its “exteriority”. The painting is one of a series of four commissioned by King Christian VIII.