Niels Larsen Stevns

[1] He assisted Joakim Skovgaard decorating the cathedral in Viborg in a simplified style, based on early Christian and Byzantine art.

[1] Stevns was born in the village of Gevnø, Zealand, Denmark, where his father was a clog maker and thatcher.

An adherent of N. F. S. Grundtvig, he painted religiously inspired paintings in a modernist style with a universally human message, e.g. Kristus og Zakæus (1913, Randers Museum of Art) and the altarpiece Kristus og Nikodemus (1918) in Vrensted Church south-west of Hjørring.

[4] In 2009 Vendsyssel Art Museum inaugurated a new extension underground, devoted to exhibiting and researching his works.

He worked alongside Axel Salto, Karl Larsen, Svend Johansen and Vilhelm Lundstrom.

This commission was for a Danish youth school and the subject was Absalon, based on an earlier work in the Cistercian Sorø Abbey, in central Zealand.