Eleonora Tscherning

Johan Lundbye: sketch of Eleonora Tscherning (1841)
Flower painting by Eleonora Tscherning

Eleonora Christine Tscherning (1817–1890) was a Danish painter who created flower paintings and later landscapes, often working in the open air. She is also remembered as one of the most important memoirists of her day, writing letters and diaries documenting important events, including the career of her husband, the politician and army captain Anton Frederik Tscherning (1795–1874).[1][2] She decorated vases at the P. Ipsens Enke terracotta factory.

Biography

Born on 4 July 1817 in Helsingør, Eleonora Tscherning was the daughter of Adam Tobias Lützow (1775–1844) and Bodil Rasmussen (1790–1865), his unmarried housekeeper. It was only in 1837 that she discovered the identity of her father when, on being promoted head of the artillery corps, he decided to adopt her and marry her mother. The family moved to Copenhagen where she studied painting at the school run by her cousin, the author and flower painter Christine Løvmand.[1]

Tscherning moved from flower painting to landscapes, happy to work in the open air. She gained experience by copying works by Fritz Petzholdt and Jens Juel. She also developed friendships with P.C. Skovgaard, Johan Lundbye and Thorald Læssøe. She exhibited at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition from 1842 to 1849, initially anonymously, later using her own name. As a result, she was one of the first female painters in Denmark who signed their works with their names rather than with pseudonyms. In 1845, she married A.F. Tscherning, who encouraged her to continue painting but marriage to a politician and raising a family left her little time for creative work.[1]

Tscherning also wrote diaries, poems and short stories, some of which appeared in Fortællinger in 1870. As a artist, she found that married life was too demanding for her to paint but she was nevertheless able to travel abroad with her daughter, in 1869 to Switzerland and in 1873 to Italy. From 1864, she decorated vases at the P. Ipsens Enke terracotta factory but retired some 20 years later after suffering a heart attack. After her husband died in 1874, she supplemented her income by running a flower painting course for young women together with her youngest daughter, Sara Ulrik.[1]

Eleonora Tscherning died in Copenhagen on 3 July 1890.[2] She is buried in Garnisons Cemetery. [3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vammen, Tinne. "Eleonora Tscherning (1817 - 1890)" (in Danish). Kvinfo. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  2. 1 2 Bech, Claus. "Eleonore Christine Tscherning" (in Danish). Dansk Bibliografisk Leksikon. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "Eleonore Christine Tscherning" (in Danish). Gravested.dk. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
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