Bengt Nordenberg (April 22, 1822 – December 18, 1902) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

artist. He belonged to the

Düsseldorf school of painting The Düsseldorf school of painting is a term referring to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Academy (now the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf or Düsseldorf State ...

and is best known for his

genre paintings Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

with everyday life scenes from the

Dalarna Dalarna () is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in central Sweden. English exonyms for it are Dalecarlia () and the Dales. Dalarna adjoins Härjedalen, Hälsingland, Gästrikland, Västmanland and Värmland Värmland () also known a ...

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...

and

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

areas of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. He moved to

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

in the 1850s.

Biography

Nordenberg was born at

Jämshög Jämshög is a locality situated in Olofström Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 1,494 inhabitants in 2010. It is the site of Jämshög Church (''Jämshögs kyrka'') in the Diocese of Lund. During the Northern Seven Years' War (1563 - 15 ...

Blekinge County Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a county or '' län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne, Kronoberg, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karlskrona. It is the smallest of the present administrative countie ...

, Sweden. He was one of nine siblings born to Per Jönsson Nord (1785-1854) and his wife Sissa Bengtsdotter (b. 1792). He grew up in poverty and became an apprentice to a painter in

Sölvesborg Sölvesborg (old da, Sølvesborg) is a locality and the seat of Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 10,024 inhabitants in 2013. Sölvesborg is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to ...

. In 1843 he fulfilled his wish to come to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and study at the

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, archite ...

. In the autumn of 1851, he went to the Düsseldorf Academy, where first

Theodor Hildebrandt Theodor Hildebrandt (2 July 1804, Stettin29 September 1874, Düsseldorf) was a German artist of the Düsseldorf school of painting who specialized in literary and historical subjects. He was also a noted entomologist. Biography He was a disci ...

and then later,

Adolph Tidemand Adolph Tidemand (14 August 18148 August 1876) was a noted Norwegian romantic nationalism painter. Among his best known paintings are ''Haugianerne'' (''The Haugeans''; 1852) and '' Brudeferd i Hardanger'' (''The Bridal Procession in Hardanger'' ...

became his teachers. In particular, the latter had a big influence on Nordenberg's painting style and subject matter. For some time he worked as an assistant to Tidemand, making reproductions of his paintings. Nordenberg also painted pictures of middle-class and upper-class life, and also religious paintings and

altarpiece An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...

s. He painted altarpieces in several

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

churches, including at Stenbrohult in

Älmhult Älmhult () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Älmhult Municipality in Kronoberg County, Sweden with 8,955 inhabitants in 2010. It was in Älmhult that the first IKEA (the Swedish furniture company) store was built. IKEA contin ...

and Gårdsby in

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

. In 1856, Nordenberg received a travel grant from the Swedish state. He studied with French history painter

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...

(1815–1879) for one and a half years, made a short stop in Düsseldorf, and in the autumn of 1858 he went to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He returned soon to Düsseldorf, where he settled for life. From 1856 to 1889 he was a member of

Malkasten Malkasten (English: "Paintbox") is a progressive German artists' association, founded in Düsseldorf in 1848, during the March Revolution. Since 1867, their headquarters have been in the Pempelfort district. History During the unrest in 1848, ...

, an artists' association there. He also gave private lessons to Swedish artists including

Peter Eskilsson Peter (Per) Eskilson (28 September 1820 – 29 January 1872) was a Swedish genre painter. Biography Eskilsson was born in the Billeberga parish, Scania, Sweden. His parents were Eskil Pehrsson and Elna Esbjörnsdotter. He was at first an u ...

(1820-1872), Augusta Jensen (1858-1936) and his nephew Henrik Nordenberg (1857-1928).

Personal life

In 1855, Nordenberg married Nanny Maria Charlotta Sutthof (1831-1905).

Gallery

Image:Bengt Nordenberg - Kyrkrodd, Dalarna.jpg, ''Rowing to the Church, Dalarna'' (1854) Image:Bengt Nordenberg - Veteranerna.jpg, ''The Veterans'' (1882) Image:Bengt Nordenberg - En riven get.jpg, ''A Torn Goat'' Image:Bengt Nordenberg - Herdefamilj med getter.jpg, ''Sheppard Family with Goats'' (1863) Image:Bengt Nordenberg - Vinterfärd.jpg, ''Winter Travel'' (1882) File:Avsked från föräldrahemmet, Bengt Nordenberg - Hallwylska museet - 13192.tif, ''Leaving home'' (1876)

References

Other sources

*Ann-Marie Elmqvist (1994) ''Bengt Nordenberg: folklivsmålaren'' (A.-M. Elmqvist)

External links

Bengt Nordenberg in ''Nordisk familjebok''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordenberg, Bengt 1822 births 1902 deaths People from Blekinge County Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni 19th-century Swedish painters Swedish male painters Swedish genre painters Düsseldorf school of painting 19th-century Swedish male artists