SKOVGAARD, Peter Christian
(b. 1817 Ringsted, d. 1875 København)
Danish painter, part of a family of painters. He was a landscape painter who continued the tradition of his short-lived friends Købke and Lundbye, becoming Denmark’s leading landscapist in the 1850s and 1860s. He was a realist, and his paintings are characterized by cool clarity and architectural composition.
He studied at the Copenhagen Academy, and visited Italy in 1854-55 and 1869. From 1847 he lived in the park outside the old ramparts of Copenhagen, which he constantly painted.
His sons Joakim and Niels (1858-1938) were also successful painters.