Carl Christian Anton Christensen (November 28, 1831 – July 3, 1912) was a

Danish-American Danish Americans ( da, Dansk-amerikanere) are Americans who have ancestral roots originated fully or partially from Denmark. There are approximately 1,300,000 Americans of Danish origin or descent. History The first Dane known to have arri ...

artist who is known for his paintings illustrating the history of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(LDS Church). Of him it has been said that he "did more than any other person to capture the images of the history of

Mormon migration to Utah The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the Sa ...

and the life lived there".

Early life

Christensen was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

and studied at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dan ...

in Copenhagen. On September 26, 1850, he was baptized into the LDS Church in Copenhagen by George P. Dykes. Christensen subsequently served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

in his native Denmark. Christensen also served as a missionary in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

beginning in the fall of 1853. While in Norway, Christensen was the first Mormon missionary to preach in Christiania (now

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

). While in Christiana, Christensen taught Danquart Anthon Weggeland, who became another prominent early Utah artist. During his time as a missionary in Norway, Christensen was twice put in prison due to government officials not approving of the preaching of Mormonism

Andrew Jenson Andrew Jenson, born Anders Jensen, (December 11, 1850 – November 18, 1941) was a Danish immigrant to the United States who acted as an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for much of the ea ...

, ''

Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia ''Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints'' (abbreviated ''LDS Biographical Encyclopedia'') is a four-volume biographical dic ...

'', vol. 1, p. 380–81. In 1857, at the end of his service in Norway, Christensen set off for

Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...

, stopping en route in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He had met Elsie Scheel Haarby while serving in Norway, and he and Elsie married in Liverpool, England. They had planned to wait until reaching Utah to get married but leaders felt the trip would be easier if engaged couples got married before starting the journey. and they sailed for America on the ''Westmoreland''."Winter Quarters center features pioneer artist"
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the ''Deseret News'' and the ''MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is t ...

'', June 1, 2002. After reaching New York City, they traveled by railroad to

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...

, the end of the line, and from there set out for Utah Territory, traveling with the Christian Christiansen handcart company.

Painting

In 1862 Christensen did stage painting for a theatre in

Springville, Utah Springville is a city in Utah County, Utah that is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area. The population was 35,268 in 2020, according to the United States Census. Springville is a bedroom community for commuters who work in the Provo-Ore ...

. Early in his time in Utah, he could find so little demand for his artistic skills that he worked as a housepainter. The first major art work that Christensen undertook while in Utah was a commission from Dimick B. Huntington to do a collection of paintings from the

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and

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

, in collaboration with Dan Weggeland.Hunter, J. Michael
"Storytellers: Scandinavians' art told of Restoration"
''

'', January 22, 2000. Christensen is best known for his ''Mormon Panorama,'' a series of 23 large paintings that depict the history of the church. Christensen also painted scenes from the

, such as ''Nephi and Zoram Return with the Record''. Christensen's Book of Mormon paintings were originally issued by the Sunday School for use in classrooms; they were later issued in lithography form. Christensen began touring with the -long Mormon panorama in 1878. Christensen would transport it about

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

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and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, giving presentations along with the panorama. He did this during the winter when he was not busy working on his farm. After Christensen's death the panorama was stored away. Many years later it was discovered again and brought back to light, partly by the efforts of Boyd K. Packer. It would gain its fullest recognition almost a century later when it would be shown at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Christensen also painted some of the murals in the Manti and St. George

Temples A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

. Christensen also did paintings for the Manti Tabernacle. Another theme of some of Christensen's paintings was Manti and its surroundings. Christensen often collaborated with Dan Weggeland in his work in Utah.

Other Utah activities

During his first days in Utah, Christensen found little time to paint. He did various odd jobs such as laying brick and burning charcoal as well as farming. Christensen wrote many LDS hymns in Danish. Some of his translated texts are still in use. Christensen also wrote poetry and contributed to ''Bikuben''. Later he would serve as an editor of that publication. He was also a coauthor of the ''History of the Scandinavian Mission''. Christensen was an instructor in drawing and Danish at the Sanpete Stake Academy (now

Snow College Snow College is a public community college in Ephraim, Utah. It offers certificates and associate degrees in a number of areas, along with bachelor's degrees in music and software engineering and a four-year nursing program. Snow College is par ...

). Christensen served a second mission from 1865 to 1868. He went on a third mission to Denmark from 1887 to 1889, during which he worked as the editor of the ''Scandinaviens Stjerne''. Christensen was the Sanpete Stake

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

in 1901. He also worked in the LDS Church Historian's Office where he compiled materials related to the history of the church in Scandinavia.

Rediscovery

In a 1976 speech given at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

, LDS Church

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

Boyd K. Packer recounted the rediscovery of Christensen's work: Christensen's 1900 painting ''Handcart Pioneers'' (not part of ''Mormon Panorama'') "has become the most widely published painting of the Mormon pioneer experience by an actual pioneer."

References

External links

C.C.A. Christensen's Panorama Paintings
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christensen, C. C. A. 1831 births 1912 deaths 19th-century Mormon missionaries Artists from Utah Artists of the American West Converts to Mormonism Danish emigrants to the United States Danish Latter Day Saint hymnwriters Danish leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Danish Mormon missionaries Editors of Latter Day Saint publications House painters Latter Day Saint artists Mormon missionaries in Denmark Mormon missionaries in Norway Mormon pioneers Patriarchs (LDS Church) Artists from Copenhagen Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Snow College faculty