Moritz Unna
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Moritz Unna (31 December 1811,
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
- 2 December 1871, Copenhagen) was a Danish
genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...
painter and photographer.


Biography

He was born to Salomon Emanuel Unna (1780-1819), a furniture dealer and auctioneer, and his wife, Jacobine Jacobsen. Following his father's death, his mother moved the family to
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
. After finishing school, he worked in a trading office as a clerk, but wanted to be a painter. He therefore returned to Copenhagen in 1830, where he was accepted as a student at the
Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () 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 Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...
. In 1836, he was awarded a small silver medal by the Academy's model school. During his time there he also exhibited some of his works. His 1835 painting of a schoolmaster was purchased for the Royal Collection (now the
National Gallery of Denmark National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...
). By 1837, he already seems to have been travelling abroad. In 1839, he settled in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. He became a member of the
Kunstverein Kunstverein may refer to: Germany * , an art association, founded in 1986 in Aachen * Kunstverein Arnsberg, an association for contemporary art in Arnsberg * , an art association in Karlsruhe * , an art society which operates the Kunsthalle Bremen ...
in 1841.''Bericht über den Bestand und das Wirken des Kunst-Vereins in München während des Jahres 1841''. Munich 1842, pg.59
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He lived there until 1846; supporting himself by painting portraits, although he continued to create genre scenes. His early works had shown some promise, but he never achieved any significant success. He went back to Göteborg in 1846, where he initially worked as an assistant in a bookstore. In 1850, he found employment as a drawing teacher, and began creating scenes of Swedish folk life. He sent canvases to exhibitions at the Academy in Copenhagen, beginning in 1853, and finally attracted some recognition. His income was still insufficient to provide a decent living, so he took up photography; opening a studio in 1854. Later that year, he was able to marry his niece, Nanny Fürst (1826-1909). They moved to Copenhagen in 1863, and he bought a photography studio from
Rudolph Striegler Peter Ludvig Rudolph Striegler (4 October 1816 – 24 January 1876) was one of Denmark's early photographers, specialising in portrait photography. Trained as a picture-framer, Strieger opened Odense's first daguerreotype studio in 1846. With his ...
. This move did not work out well, however, as he became ill and was unable to run the studio properly. Soon, he began having financial problems, and was living in near poverty. He died in 1871, and was interred at the
Assistens Cemetery An Assistens Cemetery () is a cemetery that functions as an expansion of another, older cemetery often in relation to a city church. Already by the end of the 17th century, Danish authorities deemed that the conditions for inner-city cemeteries we ...
.


References


Further reading


Biographical notes and references
@ the
Kunstindeks Danmark ''Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon'' (English: ''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 ...
* "Unna, Moritz", In: Hans Vollmer (Ed.): ''Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', Vol.33: Theodotos–Urlaub. E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1939, pg.579


External links

*
Philip Weilbach Philip Weilbach (5 August 1834, Usserød – 22 November 1900, Copenhagen) was a Danish art historian and encyclopedist. He is remembered above all for his pioneering work on the early editions of the biographical dictionary, ''Weilbachs Kunstne ...
, ''
Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon ''Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon'' (English: ''Weilbach's Biographical Dictionary of Artists'') is a Danish biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to ...
'', 2nd ed., 1895-96.
Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unna, Moritz 1811 births 1871 deaths Danish painters Danish genre painters Danish photographers Artists from Copenhagen