Julius Exner (Danish 1825-1910)

The Lesson
oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "Exner 1908"
Size: 20 h x 23 w in (with frame: 29 ½ x 32 ½ in)
Provenance: Estate of Joseph and Rosalie Segal, Vancouver Canada
ZJ20925         

Danish painter John Julius Exner was born in Copenhagen in 1825 and showed interest in painting and drawing from a young age. He received private instruction prior to being admitted to the Danish Royal Academy, where he studied under Golden Age painter Wilhelm Eckersberg. Exner first exhibited at the Royal Academy where he was well received. He received a travel bursary from the academy which allowed him to travel throughout Europe for two years. In 1864 he became a member of the Royal Academy, member of the exhibition committee of The Danish Royal Academy Charlottenborg in 1879, and head of the committee in 1890. He was also a professor at the Academy from the mid 1870’s and was responsible for teaching many of the students who would go on to form the Skagen painters including Paul Fischer, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Julius Paulsen and P.S. Krøyer. He exhibited widely including at the Charlottenborg Spring exhibition almost every year from 1844 until his death in 1910. 

Exner’s early work consisted mostly of historical subjects and portraits before he was encouraged to paint regional Danish subjects in the new nationalistic art movement. He discovered Amager, an island south of Copenhagen settled in 1521 by Dutch farmers whose lifestyle and traditions were little known to the rest of Denmark. Exner’s romantic depictions of the villagers propelled him to even greater recognition, and many of his works were reproduced as prints. Exner painted in Amager for many years, and as he became more skilled his works expanded to combine interiors and landscapes and include larger groups and traditional costumes. His paintings offered the Danish public the opportunity to learn about a community that they knew little about, and they were fascinated. His work encompassed a strong sense of patriotism and he expanded his subjects to other small villages and communities throughout Denmark including the island of Fano where he would spend summers with his family capturing a way of life quickly being lost to industry and social change.                                                                

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