Count Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746–1794) was a Swedish art collector. Sparre was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and travelled widely through Europe, collecting mostly Flemish and Dutch cabinet paintings. His collection of over 100 paintings is unusual because it remained largely intact for over two centuries. He was the wealthy son of the Marshal of the Court and the director of the Swedish East India Company (SOIC), Count Rutger Axel Sparre and Sara Christina Sahlgren (1723–1766). Her uncle

Niclas Sahlgren Niclas Sahlgren (in full Nicolaus Sahlgren) (18March 1701 10March 1776), was a Swedish merchant and philanthropist. Born into a wealthy merchant family in Gothenburg as the son of Nils Pehrsson Sahlgren and Sara Herwegh, Sahlgren was sent at ...

had been a founder of the SOIC. Gustaf Adolf Sparre studied as a teenager at Lund and

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

and spent the years 1768–1771 making a

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

abroad, visiting Britain, the Netherlands, France and Germany. It was during these early travels that he began buying art. On his return he started work in his mother's family business that had been built up by her mother

Brigitta Sahlgren Brigitta Sahlgren ( née Ekmarck; 1694 – 12 May 1771) was a Swedish businessperson. She was the managing director of the '' Sahlgrenska sockerbruket'' ("Sahlgren Sugar Refinery") in 1736–1771 and a trade- and shipping company in 1736–1744. L ...

and moved into the Sahlgrenska house named after her in Gothenburg, situated next to the SOIC headquarters. It was here where he first installed his art collection in the ''Gustavian floor''. One of the original cabinet paintings in its ''Gustavian Sparre'' frame, gifted to the city of Gothenburg in 1981 by the Wachtmeister family trust, was hung in the ''Blue room'' of the newly restored ''Gustavian floor''. File:Sahlgrenska huset September 2015 01.jpg, Sahlgrenska house File:Sahlgrenska huset, plakett.JPG, Commemorative plaque mentioning the collection File:Bernhard Keil - Autumn - Gotheburg Konstmuseum.jpg, ''Vineyard Worker'', by

Bernhard Keil Bernhard Keil or Keyl (1624 – 3 February 1687) was a Danish Baroque painter who became a pupil of Rembrandt. Biography Keil was born in Helsingør. According to the RKD he was a pupil of the Danish painter Morten Steenwinkel, who became a ...

In 1775 he bought

Kulla Gunnarstorp Castle Kulla Gunnarstorp Castle ( sv, Kulla Gunnarstorps slott) is a castle in Helsingborg Municipality, Scania, in southern Sweden. Kulla Gunnarstorp is located near the Öresund between the villages Hittarp and Domsten, about 10 kilometers north of He ...

outside Helsingborg, where he moved a large part of the art collection. He was married in 1777 to Elizabeth Sophia Amalia Beata Ramel (1753–1830), daughter of Baron Hans Ramel (1724–1799) and Amalia Beata Lewenhaupt (1726–1810). Their daughter Christina Sparre married Jacob de la Gardie. When Gustaf Adolf Sparre died, his collection was documented in the estate inventory and this 1794 inventory was inherited by his wife, and later his daughter Christina. When the remainder of the painting collection was finally sold in 2007, many of the frames that had been ordered by Sparre in 1775 for his initial gallery in Sahgrenska house were still intact, making the match to the original estate inventory considerably easier. These frames were probably all made by the same framemakers, and possibly included the sculptor G. J. Fast, who made the Gustavian floor’s mirror frames and panelling. The frames tend to be of three basic types, which are assumed to be associated with the three rooms of the original Sahlgrenska gallery. Count Sparre continued to make trips to Europe after he created the gallery, and he purchased three of his cabinet paintings at the estate sale of Antoine Poullain in Paris in 1780: File:Horse Stable by Gerard ter Borch, Getty Center.JPG, ''Horse Stable'', by

Gerard ter Borch Gerard ter Borch (; December 1617 – 8 December 1681), also known as Gerard Terburg (), was a Dutch genre painter who lived in the Dutch Golden Age. He influenced fellow Dutch painters Gabriel Metsu, Gerrit Dou, Eglon van der Neer and Johanne ...

(which he may have seen earlier when it was in the collection of

Louis François, Prince of Conti Louis François de Bourbon, or Louis François I, Prince of Conti (13 August 1717 – 2 August 1776), was a French nobleman who became the Prince of Conti from 1727 to his death, succeeding his father, Louis Armand II, Prince of Conti, Louis Arman ...

File:Adriaen van Ostade - Old Man with a Wine Glass L07033-11-lr-1.jpg, ''Old Man with a Wine Glass'', by Adriaen van Ostade File:Jacob Jordaens - Silenus.jpg, ''Silenus'', by

Jacob Jordaens Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...

(which he may have seen earlier when it was in the collection of Paul Randon de Boisset) When Count Sparre's only surviving grandchild died without issue, his grandson-in-law sold Kulla Gunnarstorp Castle with its contents (including the cabinet paintings) to Carl de Geer in 1837. His granddaughter Elisabeth Wachtmeister-von Platen in turn set up a Wachtmeister family trust to hold the paintings, and she had the art historian Georg Göthe make an inventory in 1895. During the course of the 20th-century, her descendants slowly began to sell off various pieces, and in December 2007 Sotheby's sold a major group of them. In 2013 the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

purchased three of the paintings for their collection: File:Tavern Scene with Smokers (David Teniers d.y.) - Nationalmuseum - 137952.tif, ''Tavern Scene with Smokers'', by

David Teniers the Younger David Teniers the Younger or David Teniers II (bapt. 15 December 1610 – 25 April 1690) was a Flemish Baroque painter, printmaker, draughtsman, miniaturist painter, staffage painter, copyist and art curator. He was an extremely versatile arti ...

File:Man Holding a jug (Jacob Toorenvliet) - Nationalmuseum - 137971.tif, ''Man Holding a jug'' by

Jacob Toorenvliet Jacob Toorenvliet (1640–1719) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works. Biography Toorenvliet was born in Leiden, to Abraham Toorenvliet (1620–1692), a glass painter and drawing instructor. The younger Toorenvliet first studied art wit ...

File:Wooded Mountain Landscape with Waterfall and Travellers (Gysbrecht Leytens) - Nationalmuseum - 137837.tif, ''Wooded Mountain Landscape with Waterfall and Travellers'' by

Gysbrecht Leytens Gijsbrecht Leytens, formerly known as Meester van de Winterlandschappen or Master of the Winter Landscapes, (1586– after 1643 and before 1656) was a Flemish painter who specialized in landscapes and in particular winter landscapes.

Collection inventories

* Estate inventory Count Gustaf Adolf Sparre, 1794 * Olof Granberg, Inventory of 500 paintings in Swedish private collections, 1886 * Georg Göthe, Tafvelsamlingen på Wanås, Stockholm, 1895 * Sotheby's London sale of Wachtmeister paintings, 5 December 2007Sotheby's sale lot 1
2007

References

External links

Gustaf Adolf Sparre
biography in Swedish National Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparre, Gustaf Adolf 1746 births 1794 deaths People from Gothenburg Swedish art collectors 18th-century Swedish businesspeople