Carl Frederic Aagaard (Born 1833) was born in Odense. At a very young age, he left his small town and went to study drawing at the Danish Royal Academy, Copenhagen, in Denmark's capital. This was the center of a spectacular resurgence of the arts. Such great figures as the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen had come out of Copenhagen by the middle of the 19th century. The art of the first half of the 19th century in this area was perhaps the greatest achievement of Denmark's Golden Age. Bertel Thorvaldsen, the sculptor and Eckersberg, the painter led an artistic renaissance during this period that produced many famous Danish artists, with the establishment, in 1754, of an academy in Charlottenborg. The National Collection resulted from The Royal Collections. It is what was later to become the center of attraction after the peaceful transition to a constitutional monarchy which was actively supported the new artists who bought these oil paintings the moment they were exhibited.
Danish culture flourished in the early 1800s, and Aagaard began his oil painting career towards the end of this great period. He was instructed by the Denmarkâs famous artists while at the Danish Royal Academy. Aagaard next studied in the studio of an oil painter, Hilker, whom he collaborated with on the work at the University and other public buildings. In addition to studying drawing, Aagaard assisted his older brother at his professional studio. His brother was a glass engraver. Aagaard exhibited his oil paintings for the first time with great success in 1857. Aagaard died in 1895 in Copenhagen.
