Johannes Flintoe
Johannes Flintoe was a Danish Romantic artist of Norwegian descent who lived from circa 1786/1787 to 1870. He is known for his paintings of the Norwegian countryside that helped fuel its national movement.
Flintoe’s family moved to Denmark from Hurum in southern Norway. He was born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark. Flintoe first apprenticed to learn art when he was 13 under his foster father, Peder Faxøe. At age 16 in 1802, he entered the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, also in Copenhagen, to study landscape and decorative arts. He graduated in 1805.
In 1811, Flintoe moved to Christiania to live with his brother, in what is now Oslow, Norway. In 1819, he began teaching at the Norwegian National Academy of Craft and Art Industry. He would remain in this position for over 30 years. In his role as a professor at the School of Drawing, Flintow taught and influenced several prominent Norwegian artists including Hans Gude and Johan Eckersberg.
Flintoe was the first modern artist to paint the mountains of Norway as their main subject. His landscapes were painted in the romanticism style. Not surprisingly, the beauty of Norway’s mountains and fjords became a hugely popular subject for Norwegian artists. Flintoe traversed into inhospitable regions to document the terrain with authenticity, though with a slightly romantic tinge. His influence brought romanticism into the movement for the Nationalization of Norway. It solidified and reinforced Norwegian ideals. Norway was formally founded as an independent nation on May 17, 1814.
In 1851, Johannes Flintoe returned to Copenhagen, Denmark. He died shortly after, at 83 years old.
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