Biography

Danish painter. In 1844 he went to Copenhagen, where he became a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Art and trained under Jorgen Roed (1808-1888). He exhibited his first painting at Charlottenborg in 1847, A Shoemaker in his Kitchen, which was purchased by Christian VIII and highly praised. This type of depiction of typical Danish folk played a central part of Vermehren's productions in the next several decades. Vermehren continued to show at Charlottenborg throughout his life with few years as exceptions.

In 1855 he traveled with the Academy's support for two years via Cologne, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris, and Switzerland to Italy, where he painted interiors, street scenes, landscapes and figure studies. Vermehren also spent a short time in Paris where his work A Jutland Shepherd on the Moors was exhibited.

Vermehren became a member of the academy in 1864 and teacher in the School of Painting in 1865. Among his students were Peder Severin Krøyer, Kristian Zahrtmann, Vilhelm Hammershøi and Michael Ancher. Vermehren continued to paint character paintings and genre paintings of Danish scenes, however from 1870 and on he was known primarily for his portraits.

Within art history Vermehren is often referred to as a conservative guardian of the status quo. This is a consequence of the views he expressed during his many years as a professor, concluded with his retirement 1901. Back in the 1850s, however, Vermehren belonged to the progressive wing within Danish art and was one of the most active figures in the first rebellion against the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' resistance to change.