Harald Jerichau


Harald Adolf Nikolaj Jerichau was a Danish landscape painter.

Biography

Jerichau was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.
His father was the sculptor, Jens Adolf Jerichau and his mother was the painter, Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. His brother, Holger H. Jerichau, also became a painter.
He received his first formal drawing lessons from the architect Christian Vilhelm Nielsen, then studied perspective at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1868. Later, he received lessons from Frederik Christian Lund and Eiler Rasmussen Eilersen. Jerichau first exhibited in Copenhagen in 1873.

This was followed by a trip to Italy with his mother.
In Rome, he was a pupil of Jean-Achille Benouville, who at that time, was director of the French Academy. After six months there, he made a study trip to Turkey and Greece, spent some time in Paris visited Switzerland and, in 1874, returned to Istanbul with his mother. During this time, he continued to exhibit in Copenhagen.
Since he was just a boy, he had been engaged to his cousin, Maria Kutzner. In 1875, she came to Istanbul and they were married. Their first child died at the age of three months. Believing the climate in Turkey to be unfavorable, they moved to Naples. A year later, Maria became violently ill and died in November, 1876. He considered suicide but slowly regained his will to live. In 1878, just as he was beginning to restart his career, he died from a combination of typhus and "Italian ague". He was buried in Rome at the Protestant Cemetery, Cimitero Acattolico.
His mother completed a remembrance, Til erindring om Harald Jerichau'', which was first published during 1879.
In 1879, a small exhibition of his works was held in Copenhagen, featuring scenes painted in Turkey that had been commissioned by the brewer, J.C. Jacobsen.