WAHL, Johann Salomon - b. 1689 Chemnitz, d. 1765 København

German painter, active in Denmark. He trained as a painter between 1705 and 1711 with David Hoyer (1667-1720), the court painter in Leipzig. In 1719 he settled in Hamburg, where he worked as a portrait painter of Holstein and Danish nobility. In 1722, he worked out of Hamburg for the Danish Royal Family.

When Christian VI ascended the throne in 1730, Wahl moved to Copenhagen where he was appointed as court painter. In 1737 he took over the administration of the royal art collection. To support his extensive production of portraits he maintained a large workshop locally. In 1744, he became an honorary member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze.

Wahl was among the first Northern artists to apply the new French styles of portrait painting, emphasizing one’s position in society rather than their personality, although his portraits of those outside the nobility tended to be freer in style.

Gerhard Morell, Keeper of the Royal Danish Kunstkammer

Johann Salomon Wahl was curator of the Royal Danish Kunstkammer and a practicing artist. In the present painting he has portrayed his successor, Gerhard Morell. Wahl had imposed a certain degree of order upon the old-fashioned “kunstkammer” (cabinet of curiosities/art display). The advent of Morell, an enthusiastic buyer of arts, made it possible to transform the collections into a royal gallery and art collection in the international vein.