David Jacobsen

1821 - 1871 Danish

Danish painter influenced by French art

David Jacob Jacobsen was a Danish painter. Jacobsen was the son of Jewish parents, merchant, lottery collector Juda Jacobsen and Frederikke Jacobson. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts from 1834 and began his education as a sculptor, i.a. with Herman Wilhelm Bissen, but decided instead to paint, and from 1849 he exhibited at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition as a painter uninterruptedly until his death. His friendship with French artists like Camille Pissarro , with whom he shared a studio for a while, left its mark on Jacobsen's art. Like other internationally oriented Danish artists, Jacobsen was in opposition to domestic painting, which was dominated by NL Høyen's style, but did not manage to create a career abroad. In despair over his hopeless future, Jacobsen chose to commit suicide in 1871 during a stay in Florence, where he is buried.