A Life of Neoclassical Intensity The life of Asmus Jakob Carstens was as dramatic and turbulent as the mythological subjects he sought to immortalize on canvas. Born in Sankt Jürgen, near Schleswig, his early years were far removed from the refined academies of Europe; he was apprenticed to a cooper, learning the rugged craft of barrel-making for five years. Yet, a youthful passion for painting could not be suppressed by the demands of manual labor. After leaving his apprenticeship, Carstens journeyed to Copenhagen, where he immersed himself in the study of art at the academy. It was during…
A chart of Asmus Jakob Carstens's corpus mapped not by date but by subject. Spokes are what they painted; rings are when; and the threads between stars reveal the patrons and places that secretly connect them.
Each arm of the atlas gathers works by what they depict: portraits, sacred scenes, mythologies, and the scientific studies. Click a spoke to swing that cluster to the top.
Distance from the center marks time. The innermost ring is the earliest period; the outermost, the final years. Style matures as you move outward.
Coloured lines link works bound by the same patron, commission, or theme. Trace a context to watch related clusters light up across subjects.