The Death of Balder

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg painted The Death of Balder around 1817, depicting the Norse mythological event in which the beloved god of light was killed by a mistletoe arrow guided by the trickster Loki — the beginning of the events leading to the twilight of the gods. Eckersberg had trained under David in Paris before his Italian years, and his Balder painting demonstrates his engagement with classical history painting within the context of Norse mythology. The Danish Golden Age painters often engaged with the Nordic past as an alternative to the classical antiquity of the Italian and French academic tradition, and Balder's death was among the most dramatically resonant subjects in this Northern mythological canon.

Eckersberg renders the mythological scene with the classical clarity and precise drawing he developed during his years in Rome under David. The composition combines Neoclassical figure arrangement with Northern subject matter, creating a distinctly Danish interpretation of mythological painting.