A Young Artist (Ditlev Blunck) Examining a Sketch in a Mirror is a painting by Wilhelm Bendz from 1826; it is one of the series of Danish Golden Age portraits of artists.Jens Peter Munk: ‘Kunstnerportræt – selvportræt’, in: Meddelelser fra Thorvaldsens Museum, 1994, p. 103-113.
Work's title The painting shows young Ditlev Blunck taking a break to examine a sketch for a portrait of George Valtin Sonne painting his brother, engraver Carl Edvard Sonne,Patricia G. Berman, Nyt lys over 1800-tallets maleri, , side 63 by holding it up in front of a mirror to see if the composition works.
Genesis The painting was executed in 1826 at time when Wilhelm Bendz was preoccupied by artists' new role; no longer craftsmen but instead considered intellectuals, artists in the modern sense of the word. During the 1820s he painted a series of portraits of artists at work. Here the model is Bendz's fellow student, Ditlev Blunck, in the process of painting a portrait of the painter Jørgen Sonne.
Reason The painting shows a time when painters took themselves seriously as working artists. The image of Blunck standing in a packed room surrounded by his tools, paintbox, palette and easel, skull and sketchpad, signals that his work is serious, and requires thorough study before execution.
Notes
Sources Klaus P. Mortensen, Spejlinger - litteratur og refleksion, 2000,
External links Wilhelm Bendz: En ung kunstner (Ditlev Blunck) betragter en skitse i et spejl - Statens Museum for Kunst Skabelse og spejl - Kultur | www.b.dk Guldalderforskningens paradigmer – eksemplificeret på et maleri af Wilhelm Bendz - Arkivet, Thorvaldsens Museum