See also Peter Arbo (academic)

Peter Arbo (academic)

Peter Nicolai Arbo is a Norwegian social scientist, and Associate Professor at the Norwegian College of Fishery Science at the University of Tromsø...

Peter Nicolai Arbo (June 18, 1831 – October 14, 1892) was a Norwegian

Norwegians

Norwegians constitute both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway. They share a common culture and speak the Norwegian language. Norwegian people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in United States, Canada and Brazil.-History:Towards the end of the 3rd...

 painter, who specialized in painting motifs from Norwegian history and images from Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

. He is above all noted for Åsgardsreien, a dramatic motif based on a Norwegian folk legend and Valkyrie

Valkyrie

In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...

, which depicts a female figure from Norse mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

.

Biography

Peter Nicolai Arbo grew up at Gulskogen Manor in Gulskogen

Gulskogen

Gulskogen is a borough in Drammen, Buskerud, Norway.Gulskogen has a population of 3,856 inhabitants . Strømsgodset was the name of the parish from early times...

, a borough in Drammen

Drammen

Drammen is a city in Buskerud County, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the eastern and most populated part of Norway.-Location:...

, Norway. He was the son of headmaster Christian Fredrik Arbo (1791-1868) and his wife Marie Christiane von Rosen. His brother Carl Oscar Eugen Arbo was a military medical doctor and a pioneer in Norwegian anthropologic

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 studies. Arbo's childhood home, Gulskogen, was built in 1804 as a summer residence for his older cousin, lumber dealer and industrialist Peter Nicolai Arbo.

Arbo started his art education with a year at the Art School operated by Frederick Ferdinand Helsted (1809-1875) in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 1851-1852. After this, he studied at the art academy in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

. From 1853 to 1855 he studied under of Karl Ferdinand Sohn

Karl Ferdinand Sohn

Karl Ferdinand Sohn was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school.He was born in Berlin and studied there under Wilhelm von Schadow, whom he followed to Düsseldorf. He treated principally mythical and poetic subjects of a highly romantic character, and painted in the mechanically idealistic manner...

, professor of The Düsseldorf School

Düsseldorf School

The Düsseldorf school of painting refers to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy in the 1830s and 1840s, when the Academy was directed by the painter Wilhelm von Schadow...

 of Art, and from 1857-1858 under J. E. Hünthen who was a battle and animal painter. At Düsseldorf he was for some time a private student of the history painter C. Mengelberg. He had contact with Adolph Tidemand

Adolph Tidemand

Adolph Tidemand was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are Haugianerne and Brudeferd i Hardanger with Hans Gude.-Biography:Adolph Tidemand was born in Mandal, Norway as the son of customs inspector and Storting representative...

 and became a good friend of Hans Gude

Hans Gude

Hans Fredrik Gude was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters...

 both of whom were professors at the art academy in Düsseldorf.

In 1861 Arbo returned to Norway and the following year he went on a study trip together with Gude and Frederik Collett

Frederik Collett

Frederik Jonas Lucian Bothfield Collett was a Norwegian painter, perhaps most associated with his winter pictures from the region around Lillehammer, Norway.-Background:...

. In 1863 he painted the first version of Horse flock on the high mountains, a motif he later on took up again several times. The version from 1889 is at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design (Norwegian: Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design) in Oslo and is considered one of the most important of his works.

In 1866 he was appointed a Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and the Knight of Order of Vasa

Order of Vasa

The Royal Order of Vasa was a Swedish Royal order of chivalry, awarded to citizens of Sweden for service to state and society especially in the fields of agriculture, mining and commerce. It was instituted on 29 May 1772 by King Gustav III of Sweden...

. He held numerous positions, including as a juror in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 in 1866 and Philadelphia in 1876, and was Commissioner of the Viennese

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 art department exhibition in 1873. He was also a member of the National Gallery Company from 1875 and director of the Christiania Art Society from 1882 until his death.

Drammens Museum

Drammens Museum (Norwegian: Drammens museum for kunst og kulturhistorie) is located in the heart of Drammen, on the southern side of the Drammen River

Drammenselva

Drammenselva is a river in Buskerud county, southeastern Norway.-Location:Drammenselva is one of the largest rivers in Norway, with a drainage basin of about 17,000 square kilometers and a flow rate of 300 cubic meters per second. The river has an average discharge of about 300 m3 / s...

. In earlier years this was an area of elegant country houses on the magnificent landed property known as Marienlyst. Exhibits of the museum include items from the historical and cultural background of Norway. Drammen museum consists of five departments including Gulskogen Manor, the childhood home Peder Nicolai Arbo. In the many beautiful rooms of Gulskogen Manor, one will find works by this distinguished history-painter.

Other sources

• Marit I. Lange and Anne Berit Skaug Peter Nicolai Arbo 1831-1892 (Museum of Drammen. Exhibition Catalogue. edited 1986)
• Leif Østby and Henning Alsvik, Norges billedkunst i det nittende og tyvende århundre( bind 1 s. 167-168)

External links

• Page at Norwegian Wikipedia
• Gulskogen Manor
• Drammens Museum