Abildgaard taught him in Copenhagen, where Friedrich, a fellow-student, became a friend. He also studied under David, in Paris. The Danish expatriate Thorvaldsen, and Overbeck and Cornelius, leaders of the Nazarenes, were among his close friends and professional colleagues during prolonged stays in Rome. Eckersberg and Lund (romanticist and classicist respectively) were fellow-professors at the Royal Danish Academy.