Biography

Danish painter, active also in Russia. He was apprenticed to the portrait painter Johann Salomon Wahl in Copenhagen. In 1755 he competed unsuccessfully for the gold medal at the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen with a historical painting, Lot and his Wife (untraced). In a letter he complained that the rules did not allow him to enter a portrait, a genre more suited to his talents. Presumably in 1756 he completed the portraits of the registrar of the royal art collections, Lorenz Spengler and his Wife (Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen). These portraits already show the specific features of Eriksen's style, characterized by precise rendering of the sitter, distinct modelling of form and a cool virtuosity in the unemphatic treatment of dresses and accessories.

Vigilius Eriksen was the royal portraitist to Christian VI of Denmark.