About
Every Moment is a Memory
Title:
"Orpheus and Eurydice",
c. 1900
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Artist:
Laurits Tuxen (1853−1927)
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Type:
Oil on canvas
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Size:
88 x 113 cm
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Signed:
Lower right
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RHA I.D.#:
RHA-02/2014-080
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Status:
Available for lending to qualified institutions
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Provenance:
Literature: Lise Svanholm, 'Laurits Tuxen, Europas sidste fyrstemaler', catalog of the artist's work, no. 697.
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Lauritz Christensen Auctions, DK, February 2014 Auction, Lot no.: 3298760
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Early self-portrait of the artist Laurits Tuxen
Self-portrait of the artist Laurits Tuxen, c.1915
Portrait of the artist Laurits Tuxen
Lauritz Regner Tuxen was a visual artist and sculptor born in Copenhagen in 1853. He was the son of Nicolai Elias Tuxen and Bertha Laura Giødvad. His father was a naval officer and director of the Danish naval shipyard in Orlogsværftet. Starting at the age of 15, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art from 1868–1872 together with Peder Severin Krøyer. Later he studied in Paris at the studio of Léon Bonnat between 1875–1878.
He first visited Skagen in 1870, returning on several occasions and became closely associated with the Skagen Painters. In the 1880s and 1890s, he travelled widely painting portraits for Europe's royal families including Christian IX of Denmark, Queen Victoria and the Russian royalty.
Unsatisfied with the formal education at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and as a reaction to their outdated teachings, in 1882 the Artists' Free Study School (Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler) was founded in Copenhagen as an alternative school to the academy. Laurits Tuxen became the school's first director and Peder Severin Krøyer one of its teachers.
Tuxen had many international commissions to paint event scenes with large groups of people. In 1898 he painted his most famous painting, “The Coronation of Czar Nicholas II” which hangs in the Hermitage Museum. He also was commissioned to paint the "Wedding of Nicholas II and Grand Princess Alexandra Fyodorovna", and "Princess Thyra with her daughter Olga" which also hang in the Hermitage.
In 1914 he made a study trip to Greece to paint the entry of George I of Greece into Salonika for the Christian castle. He made lively and well-characterized portraits, among them his self-portrait in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and portraits of P. S. Krøyer in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. He also made portraits in sculpture, including a portrait group of Krøyer and Michael Ancher as well as a life-sized statue depicting them preparing for a painting trip en plen air that resides at the front of Skagens Museum.
In 2014 Skagens Museum held the first major exhibition of Tuxen's works in 25 years titled, "Colour, Countryside and Crown" (Farver, friluft og fyrster).
The artist is represented in these public institutions:
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The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg
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The Royal Collection in London
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The Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest
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The Uffizi Gallery in Florence
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AROS - Aarhus Art Museum
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Bornholm Art Museum
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BRANDTS - (Painting) Museum of Art & Visual Culture
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The Hirschsprung Collection
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Esbjerg Art Museum
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Fuglsang Art Museum
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J.F. Willumsens Museum
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ARTS Museum of Modern Art Aalborg
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Læsø Museum Museum
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Sønderjylland (Brundlund Castle Art Museum)
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New Carlsberg Glyptotek
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Randers Art Museum
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Rudersdal Museums
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Skagens Museum
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Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery)
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Vejlemuseerne (The Guide Museums of Art)