Masters of the Life of Christ

Masters/Carl Bloch

The Sermon on the Mount, 1877

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

A wing of the gallery

Carl Bloch

1834–1890 · Denmark

He painted Jesus the way a neighbor might have seen Him: in a real street, a real room, among real faces, with the light falling on the one who needed Him.

See the 30 works Walk them in order

A boy who drew in his schoolbooks

Carl Heinrich Bloch was born in Copenhagen on May 23, 1834, one of ten children in a devout Lutheran home. At eleven he started at a school meant to prepare him for the naval cadet academy. A BYU curator tells how he would pretend to read his schoolbooks while drawing inside them.

He entered the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1849 and studied with the painter Wilhelm Marstrand. In 1852 he won his first silver medal, for figure drawing.

Sources: BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission · BYU Magazine, Works of Grace · Wikipedia, Carl Heinrich Bloch

The Annunciation, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Italy, and Rembrandt

In 1859 Bloch went to Italy and lived there until 1866. On the way he saw Rembrandt’s paintings in the Netherlands, and they became a lasting influence: deep shadow, a single strong light, and ordinary people drawn close.

In Rome he painted lively street scenes. He also tried his first biblical subject, Jesus raising Lazarus, but never finished it. In 1863 he completed The Daughter of Jairus, his first religious painting. It now hangs in SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark.

Sources: Wikipedia, Carl Heinrich Bloch · BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission · BYU Magazine, Works of Grace

The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

The King's Oratory

In 1859 a fire destroyed much of Frederiksborg Castle, including King Christian IV’s private prayer chamber, the King’s Oratory. The brewer J.C. Jacobsen of Carlsberg asked Bloch to paint 23 new paintings of the life of Jesus to fill it.

Bloch worked on them from 1865 to 1879, painting in oil on copper. The series runs from the Annunciation and the shepherds in the field to the Crucifixion, the Burial and the Resurrection. They still hang in the King’s Oratory today.

Sources: Frederiksborg Castle, Kongens Bedekammer podcast page · Lex.dk, Carl Bloch · Frederiksborg Castle press kit: Carl Bloch's biblical masterpieces · Frederiksborg Castle, A Tour of the Museum

The Daughter of Jairus, oil on canvas by Carl Bloch, 1863

The Daughter of Jairus, 1863

Oil on canvas, 190.5 × 235 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KMS835)

Altarpieces for village churches

The oratory made Bloch the painter Danish churches wanted. He painted eight large altarpieces for churches in Denmark and Sweden, from Holbæk in 1873 to Landskrona in 1886. Several of them still stand above the altars they were painted for.

One, Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda, was painted in 1883 for a Copenhagen mission house. In 2001 the BYU Museum of Art bought it, and it became the first major religious painting by Bloch to leave Scandinavia.

Sources: BYU Magazine, Works of Grace · Danish Wikipedia, Carl Bloch (list of altarpieces) · BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission

Healing the Blind Man, 1871

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

The etcher

Bloch had tried etching in Rome and given it up. In 1880 he came back to it and published Gethsemane, a small plate that BYU’s museum calls a work of “remarkable sophistication not achieved by previous Danish printmakers.” He made 78 etchings in all.

Many of them return to the scenes he had painted, worked again in line and shadow. Several hang in this wing beside the paintings, so you can see the same moment twice.

Sources: BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission · BYU Magazine, Works of Grace

Christ in Gethsemane, etching by Carl Bloch, 1880

Christ in Gethsemane, 1880

Etching, 15 × 10.7 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKSgb13113)

Why Latter-day Saints know his work

Doyle L. Green, managing editor of the Improvement Era, printed Bloch’s paintings in the Church magazine, including Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda in a 1966 issue. For more than 40 years The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has used them, mostly the Frederiksborg series, in meetinghouses and printed media.

The film The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd (2000) used his paintings as models for light, sets and movement. Frederiksborg points to one scene, Jesus healing a blind man in a narrow street, as drawn directly from Bloch. In 2010 BYU opened The Master’s Hand, and in 2013 Sacred Gifts brought his altarpieces to Provo.

Sources: BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission · Wikipedia, Carl Heinrich Bloch · Frederiksborg Castle, Kongens Bedekammer podcast page · BYU Magazine, Works of Grace

Christ Crowned with Thorns, etching by Carl Bloch, 1882

Christ Crowned with Thorns, 1882

Etching, 33.3 × 24.4 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS756)

His last years

Bloch became a professor at the Academy in 1871. His wife, Alma, died in 1886, leaving him with eight children. He died of cancer in Copenhagen on February 22, 1890. He had asked for a private funeral, but so many mourners came that the crowd overwhelmed the church.

Sources: BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission · Wikipedia, Carl Heinrich Bloch

The Resurrection, 1877

Altarpiece

Altarpiece, Sankt Jakobs Kirke, Østerbro, Copenhagen

The rooms

30 works, in the order of His life

Hung by the Gospel moment they show, across 19 rooms of the Gallery Walk.

2. Be It unto Me

The Annunciation, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

The Shepherds and the Angel, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

6. Good Tidings of Great Joy

The Shepherds and the Angel, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Adoration of the Shepherds, oil on canvas by Carl Bloch, 1882

6. Good Tidings of Great Joy

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1882

Oil on canvas, 82 × 106 cm

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (NM 1352)

Adoration of the Shepherds, line etching by Carl Bloch, 1881

6. Good Tidings of Great Joy

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1881

Line etching

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKSgb13136)

11. My Father's Business

The Twelve-Year-Old Jesus in the Temple, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Jesus Tempted, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

14. Forty Days in the Wilderness

Jesus Tempted, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

The Wedding at Cana, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

16. Water into Wine

The Wedding at Cana, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Woman at the Well, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

18. Living Water

Woman at the Well, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

26. The Light of the World

The Sermon on the Mount, 1877

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

33. Be Not Afraid, Only Believe

The Daughter of Jairus, 1863

Oil on canvas, 190.5 × 235 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KMS835)

The Daughter of Jairus, etching by Carl Bloch, 1881

33. Be Not Afraid, Only Believe

The Daughter of Jairus, 1881

Etching

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS644)

Christ and the Children, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

47. Suffer the Little Children

Christ and the Children, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Christ Blessing a Little Child, oil on canvas by Carl Bloch, 1873

47. Suffer the Little Children

Christ Blessing a Little Child, 1873

Oil on canvas, 385 × 160 cm

Altarpiece, Sankt Nikolai Kirke, Holbæk

48. Blind Bartimaeus

Healing the Blind Man, 1871

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Cleansing the Temple, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

52. A House of Prayer

Cleansing the Temple, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

The Last Supper, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

55. In Remembrance of Me

The Last Supper, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Gethsemane, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

58. Not My Will, but Thine

Gethsemane, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

58. Not My Will, but Thine

Christ in Gethsemane, 1880

Etching, 15 × 10.7 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKSgb13113)

The Denial of Peter, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

60. Before the Cock Crow

The Denial of Peter, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Peter Repentant, etching by Carl Bloch, 1882

60. Before the Cock Crow

Peter Repentant, 1882

Etching, 22.3 × 31.6 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKSgb4647)

Study for Peter Repentant, pencil by Carl Bloch, 1880–1881

60. Before the Cock Crow

Study for Peter Repentant, 1880–1881

Pencil, 27.8 × 20.4 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS577)

61. I Find in Him No Fault

Christ Crowned with Thorns, 1882

Etching, 33.3 × 24.4 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS756)

Christ on the Cross, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

62. It Is Finished

Christ on the Cross, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

Christ on the Cross, etching and drypoint by Carl Bloch, 1884

62. It Is Finished

Christ on the Cross, 1884

Etching and drypoint, 36 × 28.7 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKS754)

The Burial, oil on copper by Carl Bloch, 1865–1879

63. Laid in a New Tomb

The Burial, 1865–1879

Oil on copper

Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle

One of the 23 King's Oratory paintings

64. He Is Risen

The Resurrection, 1877

Altarpiece

Altarpiece, Sankt Jakobs Kirke, Østerbro, Copenhagen

The Resurrection of Christ, etching by Carl Bloch, 1881

64. He Is Risen

The Resurrection of Christ, 1881

Etching, 18.1 × 13.2 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKSgb13129)

The Doubting Thomas, oil on canvas by Carl Bloch, 1881

67. My Lord and My God

The Doubting Thomas, 1881

Oil on canvas, 251 × 120 cm

Altarpiece, Ugerløse Kirke

Christ and Doubting Thomas, etching by Carl Bloch, 1885

67. My Lord and My God

Christ and Doubting Thomas, 1885

Etching, 34.1 × 24 cm

SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark (KKSgb4646)

Christus Consolator, oil by Carl Bloch, 1875

End of the wing

Christus Consolator, 1875

Oil

Image from the BYU Museum of Art

See the originals

Where the works are

The King's Oratory, Frederiksborg Castle

Hillerød, Denmark

The 23 paintings hang in the King's Oratory, next to the castle chapel. Frederiksborg says visitors can see them every day, all year. Source: Frederiksborg Castle, Kongens Bedekammer podcast page.

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SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

SMK holds The Daughter of Jairus (1863) and a large collection of Bloch's etchings and drawings in its print collection. Its open-collection website shows each one free. Source: SMK Open, the National Gallery of Denmark.

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Nationalmuseum

Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden's national museum of art holds Bloch's 1882 Adoration of the Shepherds (NM 1352).

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Sankt Nikolai Kirke

Holbæk, Denmark

Bloch's altarpiece of Christ blessing a little child, 1873, stands above the altar. Source: Danish Wikipedia, Carl Bloch (list of altarpieces).

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Ugerløse Kirke

Ugerløse, Denmark

The altarpiece of Christ and Thomas, 1881, is in this village church west of Copenhagen. Source: Danish Wikipedia, Carl Bloch (list of altarpieces).

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Sankt Jakobs Kirke

Østerbro, Copenhagen, Denmark

The Resurrection altarpiece, 1877, is Bloch's largest painting. The church lent it to BYU for Sacred Gifts in 2013. Source: BYU Magazine, Works of Grace.

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BYU Museum of Art

Provo, Utah

BYU bought Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda (1883) in 2001, the first major religious painting by Bloch to leave Scandinavia. The museum also collects his etchings. Source: BYU Museum of Art, Carl Bloch and the Commission.

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