Johan Laurentz Jensen [1800-1856], Danish painter, was born in Gjentofte, near Copenhagen. He began his formal art training at the age of 14, studying under Fritzsch at the Copenhagen Academy, where he won medals in 1817-1818. In 1822 Jensen moved to France to study porcelain manufacturing in Sevres, where Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark had recommended him. He remained there for a few months until he was appointed Principal painter at the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Manufactory in 1825. Jensen's paintings show a high degree of finish; his colors are pure and brilliant. He combines firmness with sensitivity and subtlety in a most appealing and competent way. From 1833-1835 Jensen lived in a Scandinavian artist colony in Rome, where he met the Danish
sculptor Bertel Thorvaldson 1768-1844, Thorvaldsen's vases are rendered in these paintings, and are on display in the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen today.
