Comment on Antagelig oktober 1810

Here Lund is probably referring to his professional situation. He had hoped to get the chair at the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen which had fallen vacant on the death of the painter Nicolai Abildgaard. At first, however, his hopes were disappointed, and he was not appointed professor until 1818, together with C.W. Eckersberg. The art collector, Consul Hans West, made the following defence of Lund to the president of the Academy of Fine Arts, Crown Prince Christian Frederik, in a letter dated 7.7.1810: “He [Lund] will become a good teacher at the Academy as he has the gift of being able to communicate; he also has a great many drawings after the old masters which will be very useful to him as a teacher.” His defence was probably a reaction to the Crown Prince’s confidence to West in his letter dated 7.6.1810: “Between you and me, Lund does not seem to be cut out to be a professor at the Academy and Abildgaard’s successor, as Schubart [i.e. Baron Herman Schubart] had recommended.” Both letters are quoted from Niels Breitenstein’s ‘Hans West’, reprint of Kulturminder 1955, p. 225 and p. 223, respectively.

Last updated 05.12.2017