Peter Vilhelm Ilsted was a visual artist and engraver born in 1861 at Sakskøbing in Guldborgsund. He was the son of merchant Jens Peter Ilsted and Johanne Sophie Lund. At the age of 17 he attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1878, completing his course of study in five years. He made his debut at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in 1883. Two years later, he joined a study trip across Italy to Egypt, Palestine, Greece and Turkey. Later he visited Scotland, England, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Morocco and France.

     In 1891 his sister Ida married the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi making them brothers-in-law. Peter Ilsted and Vilhelm Hammershøi, together with Carl Holsøe, were leading artists in early 20th-century Denmark. All three artists were members of Den Frie Udstilling (the Free Exhibitions), a progressive artists association founded in 1891. All three were known for painting images of, "Sunshine and Silent Rooms", all in subtle colors. Their works reflect the orderliness of a tranquil life similar to the earlier works of Vermeer. Their art was later referred to as the "Copenhagen Interior School."

     With support from the Cultural Ministry, Ilsted traveled to the Exposition Universelle in 1889 in Paris. He became an assistant professor at the Royal Danish Academy from 1893–1905 and worked periodically as a conservator-restorer.

     Ilsted was a great success in his lifetime and won many awards and accolades for his work including the Eckersberg Medal in both 1890 and 1899. He was the only member of the group to also focus on printmaking. What separated Ilsted from his contemporaries was his graphic works that Ilsted proved himself an innovator. In the 1880s he first engaged in etching, inspired by seventeenth-century Dutch prints, particularly Rembrandt.

     In 1906 Ilsted began his experiments with the mezzotint technique, a printmaking process rarely practiced in the early twentieth century in Denmark. He studied English mezzotints, and even began collecting them. Some of his quiet interior mezzotints are considered by art experts among the greatest ever made. His unique contribution to the mezzotint was that of inking the plate à la poupée which involved inking different areas on the plate by hand with a bundle of fabric, allowing for the use of several colors on each plate.

     While at first glance their works appear similar, Ilsted and Hammershøi were in fact quite different. Hammershøi’s work has an aloof austerity with cool tones and limited pallet. His works were considered, “quintessential Danish.” Ilsted created similar quiet interior scenes, but with more vibrant colors and a greater focus on the effects of natural light.

     The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) held an important exhibition on the work of Ilsted, Hammershøi, and Vermeer in 2001.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• Tokyo Museum of Western Art

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• The Rijksmuseum

• Musée d’Orsay

• The British Museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art

• Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

• The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm

• Syracuse University Art Museum

• AROS - Aarhus Art Museum

• BRANDTS - (Painting) Museum of Art & Visual Culture

• The Hirschsprung Collection

• Fuglsang Art Museum

• Copenhagen City Museum

• Museum Sønderjylland (Brundlund Castle Art Museum)

• Museum East Jutland - Cultural History Museum Randers

• Randers Art Museum

• Ribe Art Museum

• Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery)

• Vejlemuseerne (The Guide Museums of Art)