Bloch's early work featured rural scenes from everyday life. From 1859 to 1866, Bloch lived in Italy, and this period was important for the development of his historical style. His first great success was the exhibition of his 1864 painting
Prometheus Unbound in Copenhagen in 1865. After the death of Marstrand, Bloch finished the decoration of the ceremonial hall at the
University of Copenhagen. In a New Year's letter from 1866 to Bloch,
H. C. Andersen wrote: "What God has arched on solid rock will not be swept away!" Another letter from Andersen declared "Through your art you add a new step to your
Jacob-ladder into immortality." In a final ode, from a famous writer to a famous artist, Andersen said "Write on the canvas; write your seal on immortality. Then you will become noble here on earth." Bloch was then commissioned to produce twenty-three paintings for the King's Chapel at
Frederiksborg Castle, located in
Hillerød. These were all scenes from the life of Christ which have become very popular as illustrations. The originals, painted between 1865 and 1879, are still at Frederiksborg Castle. The
altarpieces can be found at
Holbæk,
Odense,
Ugerløse and Copenhagen in Denmark, as well as
Löderup,
Hörup, and
Landskrona in Sweden and
Hvalvík in the
Faroe Islands.
Influence on art of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints For over forty years,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made heavy use of Bloch's paintings, mostly from the Frederiksborg Castle collection, in its church buildings and printed media. The church has produced films depicting scriptural accounts of Christ's public ministry, using Bloch's paintings as models for the colour, light and overall set design, as well as the movement of the actors in many of the films' scenes. The most notable example of this is its 2000 film
The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd. The church's interest in Bloch's work was generally popularized by Latter-day Saint missionary and writer
Doyle L. Green, who valued the classically trained realism of his artwork, as opposed to the trend towards
abstraction in contemporary art of the time. It has been further argued that the
Protestant lack of iconographic features in his works, as well as the lack of
"Catholic" motifs such as halos and wings, also helped to make his artworks comfortable for Latter-day Saint audiences. Through the assistance of Danish-born artist
Soren Edsberg (born 1945), the acquisition of
Christ Healing at the Pool of Bethesda (formerly owned by Indre Mission, Copenhagen, Denmark) was made possible for
Brigham Young University Museum of Art, ==Personal life==