[3] Over the course of his lifetime Gude won numerous medals, was inducted as an honorary member into many art academies, and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St.

[3][4] At the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf Gude encountered Johann Wilhelm Schirmer – a professor in landscape painting – who advised him to give up his ambitions of being a painter and to return to his regular studies before it was too late.

[3] The romanticists depicted wild, untamed wildernesses with dark forests, soaring peaks, and rushing water to capture the terrifying and overpowering aspects of nature.

[3] Although professors at the academy complained that their teaching prevented them from undertaking more lucrative endeavors, Gude was able to sell enough works to afford a modest house in Düsseldorf which stood in what is now Hofgarten.

[3] In a letter to Jørgen Moe Gude writes that he see possibility for his own development in Düsseldorf, and that even if it would cause him to be known as a German artist instead of a Norwegian, he would not be ashamed of the fact.

[3] On this subject he wrote: [...] and you, my compatriots in Norway, have no grounds for complaining that we have forgotten the dear, familiar and specific character with which God has endowed our land and our nation.

[3] Gude rented a house overlooking River Lledr where he painted one of the ancient Roman bridges which was popular with artists of the time.

[3] In December 1863 Gude was offered and accepted a professorship at the Baden School of Art in Karlsruhe where he would once again succeed Schirmer, and so he left Wales.

[3][4] Gude was hesitant to take the position as he felt that it was working for the enemy but was unable to support himself in Norway due to the lack of an art school.

[3] He wrote about his thoughts on the position to Kjerulf, stating: At this time I feel oppressively and profoundly what it means to float about the world without a mother country – now I have obtained a post, and shall serve to the best of my powers the country that may shortly be at open war with my own native land; I shall express no sympathies and be deaf to what goes on beyond the walls of my own studio; that which makes hearts at home beat faster will not exist for me; and how offensive and unbearable it will be to watch the enthusiasm displayed around me for the rights of a German nationality, while my own nation perhaps bleeds to death in a struggle for existence.

[3] When Gude accepted the position at Karlsruhe the flow of Norwegian painters to the Düsseldorf Academy redirected to Karlsruhe, which would produce many of the Norwegian painters of the 1860s and 1870s, among them Frederik Collett, Johan Martin Nielssen, Kitty L. Kielland, Nicolai Ulfsten, Eilif Peterssen, Marcus Grønvold, Otto Sinding, Christian Krohg and Frits Thaulow.

[3][4] In Karlsruhe Gude continued to faithfully reproduce the landscapes he saw, a style that he passed on to his students by taking them to Chiemsee to paint the lake en plein air.

[3] Because of this fact Gude received better pay than at the Düsseldorf Academy, had spacious and rent-free accommodations and was given generous periods of leave which allowed him to travel in the summer to perform studies for future paintings.

[3] Gude served as the director of Karlsruhe from 1866 to 1868 and again from 1869 to 1870, where he introduced several of his own educational principles designed to develop pupil's individual talent.

[3][4] But Gude's reign as director at Karlsruhe was not without resistance to his methods, and it is this opposition that he cites as his reason for visiting the Berlin Academy of Art that as early as 1874 in search of better conditions.

[3][4] The Senate was responsible for upholding "all the artistic interests of the state" and membership was a mark of the highest official recognition of Gude's work.

[3] In 1895 the Christiania Art Society held a comprehensive retrospective of Gude's works including his paintings, oil studies, watercolors, sketches and etchings.

"[3] By the time of the exhibition Gude had abandoned his previous style of painting large-scale compositions based on studies, and was working in mediums other than oil.

[...] Let it rather happen now, while there can be controversy and a row and some lively discussion about his art[...].Gude would spend a few weeks each summer near the Baltic coast where he drew material for numerous paintings of Ahlbeck and Rügen.

[3] As the century drew to a close the established art academies faced 'secession' movements from groups of artists looking to branch of into different style.

I had serious scruples when I decided to exhibit them, because I knew full well how different the opinion of the modernists is, and it is quite understandable that they want to 'take the helm' alone!In 1880 Gude had between five and eight students, but this number had shrunk to two or three by 1890.

[3] In part this reduction of pupils was due to a lack of interest in the Berlin academy, as explained to Gude by Prince Eugén, Duke of Närke who wrote that he, as well as numerous other young artists, had more of a taste for French art than German.