Blunck was born in 1798 in
Münsterdorf in
Holstein, at that time a duchy with a largely German-speaking populace ruled by Denmark. In 1814 he began his studies at the
Royal Danish Academy of Art in
Copenhagen as a student of
C.A. Lorentzen and
C.W. Eckersberg. He was trained concurrently with fellow students
Wilhelm Bendz,
Ernst Meyer, and
Albert Küchler. Presumably dissatisfied with the Danish Academy, Blunck moved in 1818 to
Munich and enrolled at the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts to train in history painting. He studied in Bavaria for two years before returning to Copenhagen. Back in
Denmark, Blunck became a student of the recently appointed
J. L. Lund, a
Romantic historical painter who was to become a major influence on his development. Thus, it was also mostly history painting that marked Blunck's early work. Later, through
genre painting, Blunck became representative of the kind of everyday realism that was to appear in Danish art in the mid-1820s. Lund's influence grew particularly clear during Blunck's stay in
Germany beginning in 1828. In
Berlin,
Munich, and
Dresden, he became acquainted with Lund's artist-friends, including the famed Romantic painter
Caspar David Friedrich. Blunck's sojourns abroad also brought him repeatedly to
Rome, where he spent almost ten years. Here, he joined the group of Danish artists around
Bertel Thorvaldsen and produced several of his major paintings, including
Danish Artists in the Roman Inn La Gensola (1837). Deeply influenced by the works of
Johann Friedrich Overbeck in Rome, Blunck began to devote himself to religious motifs and developed a painting style that was strongly influenced by the
Nazarene movement, unusual among Danish painters. In 1840, he was expelled from Denmark due to
homosexual acts. As a result, he left the country, and after visits to his native region and to Munich, he settled in Vienna in 1841. His criminal record and his decision to take up arms against Denmark in the
First Schleswig War (1848-1852) made him persona non grata in Denmark, and his reputation has suffered to the present day. Nonetheless, he was commissioned by King
Christian VIII of Denmark to paint the four-part cycle "The Ages of Man" (1840–45) for the
Royal Painting Collection. ==Works==