(b Bergen, Feb 24, 1788; d Dresden, Oct 14, 1857).
Norwegian painter and collector, active in Germany. His paintings, imbued with Romantic and patriotic sentiments, had a strong influence on the landscape tradition both in Germany (especially Dresden) and in his native Norway.
He was apprenticed from 1803 to 1809 to a house painter and interior decorator in Bergen and during this time took private drawing lessons. His artistic talent was soon recognized, and a group of prosperous Bergen citizens paid for him to study at the Kunstakademi (Academy of Art) in Copenhagen, where he remained from 1811 to about 1817, from 1813 teaching at the painting school of C. A. Lorentzen (1749–1828). While benefiting from the disciplined Academy course, Dahl also studied independently, copying from other works, especially those of Dutch painters, and sketching frequently from nature. He made copies partly to earn a living but also for what he could learn of both technique and the approach to the painting of architecture and, especially, of landscape. Jan Both and Claude Lorrain influenced his early ‘Italianate’ pictures, while he based his ‘Norwegian’ works on Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema and Allaert van Everdingen. These models also had some influence on Dahl’s sketches directly from nature, which were generally made in and around Copenhagen, although occasionally during excursions further afield. While Dutch work, for example the paintings of Aert van der Neer, seems to have inspired such works as ...