Born during the Golden Age of Danish art, the period of such Danish thinkers and artists as Hans Christian Andersen, Søren Kierkegaard, and Bertel Thorvaldsen, Christian Frederic Eckardt became a painter of luminous marine views.   Eckardt began his artistic studies in Copenhagen at the young age of thirteen. Munich, Dresden, Venice and Rome provided a greater attraction for Danish artists than Paris, and at the age of 21, he traveled to Germany and Italy to perfect his marine views. Eckardt made his Paris Salon debut in 1856 with a View of Venice, and became a perennial exhibitor after 1859. Success came shortly thereafter, and he was awarded Neuhausen prizes in 1863 and 1871.