Christian Albrecht JENSEN, born June 26, 1792 and died July 13, 1870, is a Danish portrait painter from the "golden age of Danish painting" (first half of the 19th century). He painted more than 400 portraits during his career, representing most of the outstanding figures of the time, including the writer Hans Christian ANDERSEN, the painter Christoffer Wilhelm ECKERSBERG, the sculptor Bertel THORVALDSEN, the physicist Hans Christian ØRSTED and the theologian Nikolaj Frederik Severin GRUNDTVIG. Christian Albrecht JENSEN was born in Bredstedt in North Frisia. From 1810 to 1816, he attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, where he studied with Christian August LORENTZEN. From 1817 to 1818, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden. In 1818, he went to Rome via Vienna, Venice, Bologna and Florence. On his arrival, he joined the colony of Danish-German artists who lived in the city at the time and also met the sculptor Bertel THORVALDSEN there. During his years in Rome, JENSEN painted small informal portraits of several of his fellow artists, including the writer Bernhard Severin INGEMANN when he visited Rome from 1818 to 1819, and the sculptor Hermann Ernst FREUND, the closest associate. de THORVALDSEN from 1818 to 1828. After leaving Rome, he tried in vain to establish himself as a portrait painter in Hamburg. Back in Copenhagen during the winter of 1822-1823, he found a fashion dominated by the sober and neoclassical style of Christoffer Wilhelm ECKERSBERG. JENSEN's more vivid portraits, however, immediately gained wide popularity. He thus painted a large number of eminent members of Danish society. He was nevertheless shunned by the Academy when a professorship became vacant after the death of Christian August LORENTZEN in 1828. After 1830 his success waned, forcing him to paint for the historic collections of Frederiksborg Castle, both copies of older paintings and the originals. From 1837, he received orders from other countries. The Pulkovo Observatory, after having opened its doors near Saint Petersburg, commissioned eleven portraits of leading international scientists from him. In the last years of his life, Christian Albrecht JENSEN was reduced to working as an assistant in the Royal Collection of Prints and as a curator, supplementing his income by selling paintings from his large art collection.