This book is the first complete study of the painter Nicolai Abildgaard's oeuvre. Abildgaard (1743-1809) is the only Danish artist of the 18th century to obtain a position in the European art history of the period. His works range from the Pre-Romantic sublime to Enlightenment history painting, anonymous satire and Neo-Classical allegory. 1789 radicalised his views and estranged him from his royal patrons. The imagery of his final, isolated years playfully evokes an erotic Neo-Classical Arcadia. Among his friends were the Swedish sculptor Tobias Sergel and the German sculptor Gottfried Schadow; and among his pupils were Asmus Carstens, Caspar David Friedrich, Phillipp Otto Runge and Bertel Thorvaldsen.