(1849 - 1937)

After his officer's exam in 1871, D. served in the Bergen Brigade until he resigned as an officer in 1874 and decided to become a painter. D. exhibited for the first time in Düsseldorf in 1876 and at the World's Fair in Philadelphia the same year. Already then he had found a style and a range of motifs that he would not abandon later.

D. lived in Berlin from 1888, but traveled every summer to Balestrand to make sketches of the nature of Vestland. From 1919 he lived in Balestrand. At the age of 16, D. delivered drawings of various ethnological material via Eilert Sundt to Folkevennen (Letter Collection 240 UBO). These are characterized by great drawing skills.

D. most often depicts the nature of Western Norway in brilliant sunshine, populated with laughing and smiling people in folk costumes. The pictures often have an anecdotal content. D. was never highly regarded as an artist by the leading circles in Norway, but he found a large market for his art abroad, especially with private collectors. He was highly regarded by Emperor Wilhelm I and especially by Emperor Wilhelm II, who bought many of his pictures and visited him on his trips to Norway. D. was Wilhelm II's consultant on the erection of the Frithjof statue in Vangsnes. During his time in Balestrand, D. wrote several polemical writings, including against contemporary art.