Background
Anton Melbye was born on February 13, 1818, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the eldest son of Jacob Buntzen Melbye and Anna Marie Christine Løchte. His brothers were painters Vilhelm and Fritz Melbye.
Copenhagen, Denmark
Anton Melbye studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Anton Melbye was born on February 13, 1818, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the eldest son of Jacob Buntzen Melbye and Anna Marie Christine Løchte. His brothers were painters Vilhelm and Fritz Melbye.
Anton Melbye wanted to be a sailor and trained as a shipbuilder. But because of bad eyesight, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and became a pupil of Christoffer-Wilhelm Eckersberg.
By 1840, Anton Melbye exhibited some seascapes that attracted the attention of the German art collector, Karl Friedrich von Rumohr. On his recommendation, Melbye accompanied King Christian VIII on his corvette for a voyage through the Baltic and North Seas.
Soon after, he was invited to accompany the King on a voyage to Morocco, where he witnessed the Bombardment of Tangiers. In 1845, he applied to the Royal Academy for a travel scholarship, but was passed over. With the support of the King, he was awarded the money in 1846 and his painting of the Eddystone Lighthouse was purchased for the Royal Collection.
Anton finally arrived in Paris in 1847 and remained through the Revolution; receiving a year's extension on his scholarship. In 1853 or 1854, Anton Melbye accompanied the French navy to the Marmara Sea and spent several months in Constantinople and the Bosporus. Greatly honoured by the Ottoman royal court and having received many commissions, he returned to France with sketches of the European fleet of warships that gathered during the Crimean War and with work-defining images of the sumptuous nature and the lucid colours of the south in his mind.
From 1860 until 1871, Anton Melbye lived in Hamburg from where he undertook longer travels, mainly to France. His first solo exhibition was displayed in Hamburg in 1872.
Seascape
1843Seascape with sailing ship in rough sea
1844Lighthouse at Stora Bält
1846The Eddystone Lighthouse
1846Le Pont Neuf (daguerreotype)
1848The sailing ship ‚Johanna‘ and other vessels in Sundet off Kronborg Castle
1849Sailing ship off Gibraltar
1851Numerous sailing ships at sea
1858The Battle of Grand Port
1859Coastal scene with larger rocks
1862Sailing off the English coast
1862View of the Adriatic
1864Sea at Night
1865Ships at sea
1867Laguna di Venezia
1878Anton Melbye was a member of the Royal Academy.
In 1857 Anton Melbye was married to Alice Dupré.