(bapt Copenhagen, May 16, 1726; d Copenhagen, July 8, 1776).
Danish painter. Although he was mentioned in the court account-books as early as 1743, his first known painting dates from 1750. From then until 1756 he was active as one of the most important portrait painters of the Danish Rococo. His colouristic style and impasto technique were strongly influenced by the Swedish painter Carl Gustaf Pilo. The double portrait of the Court Jeweller C. F. Fabritius and his Wife (1752; Copenhagen, Stat. Mus. Kst) and the full-length Frederik V (1756; priv. col., see A. Russell, ed.: Danske slotte og herregårde [Danish palaces and manor houses] (Copenhagen, 2/1963–8), iv, p. 385) are among his masterpieces. An important collection of portraits by Als from this period is housed in the Nationalhistoriske Museum på Frederiksborg, Hillerød.
In 1755 Als was the first major gold medal winner at the newly founded Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi in Copenhagen, and the next year he began a six-year study trip to Italy and France. In Rome (...