Christian Vilhelm Nielsen (26 August 1833, 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 ...

– 26 April 1910, in Copenhagen) was a Danish architect, furniture designer, and professor of

perspective Perspective may refer to: Vision and mathematics * Perspectivity, the formation of an image in a picture plane of a scene viewed from a fixed point, and its modeling in geometry ** Perspective (graphical), representing the effects of visual per ...

. Many aspiring architects attending his drawing school in preparation for admission to the

Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture ( Danish: ''Det Kongelige Danske Kunsakademi, Arkitektskolen'') or Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole is an institution of higher education in Copenhagen, Denmark ) , song = ( en, "Ki ...

Life and work

He was born to Peter Christian Nielsen, a master carpenter, and his wife, Ane Kirstine née Sørensen. In 1844, he became a student at the Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole. He received a small silver medal in 1851, and a large silver medal in 1855. The following year, he was awarded the

C.F. Hansen Medal The C. F. Hansen Medal (Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or D ...

. From 1847 to 1856, he was a regular visitor to a private school operated by

G.F. Hetsch Gustav Friedrich (von) Hetsch (28 September 1788 – 7 September 1864) was a Danish architect. Biography Hetsch was born in Stuttgart, he was the son of Philipp Friedrich von Hetsch (1758–1838). He studied at the University of Tübingen and i ...

; first as an apprentice, then as an assistant. Shortly after, he set up his own private drawing school, which graduated almost 500 students between 1860 and 1875. Most went on to attend the Kunstakademiet. In 1861, he married Caroline Jakobine Sørensen (1836-1878), the daughter of a master

turner Turner may refer to: People and fictional characters *Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name *One who uses a lathe for turnin ...

. In 1862, he became a teacher at the Kunstakademiets school of perspective. During the 1870s, thanks to a series of scholarships, he travelled extensively, throughout Germany and Northern Italy. From 1895, he was a teacher at the local Drawing School for Women. He also taught at

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. S ...

s. In 1905, he was named a Professor. In addition to teaching, he was a regular contributor of drawings to the ''

Illustreret Tidende ''Illustreret Tidende'' was a Danish weekly illustrated magazine published from 1859 to 1924 in Denmark with international news, literature and entertainment content. History and profile ''Illustreret Tidende'' was founded by Otto Herman Delbanc ...

'', and produced a series of technically precise

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

s, depicting structural features. His favored architectural styles were the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

. Some of his dissertations were published. As a perspectivist, he adhered to and developed the theories of

C.W. Eckersberg Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Southern Jutland region of Denmark. He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Dan ...

. Most of his working designs were for villas and other private structures. Several have been demolished. He was a recipient of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

, and was interred in

Assistens Cemetery Assistens Cemetery ( da, Assistens Kirkegård) is the name of a number of cemeteries in Denmark. The common nominator is, as the first part of the name implies (Latin: ''assistens'' meaning assisting), an assisting cemetery for a town's churches. ...

. The site has since been abandoned.

Sources

Biographical data
@ the ''

Kunstindeks Danmark ''Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon'' (Weilbach's Biographical Dictionary of Artists) is a Danish biographical dictionary of artists and architects. The current edition, which is also freely accessible online, contains the biographies of some 8,000 Dani ...

''
Biographical notes
@ Gravsted

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, C. V. 1833 births 1910 deaths Order of the Dannebrog Architects from Copenhagen Danish furniture designers