Helena Quiding (19 August 1755 – 2 October 1819) was a Swedish culture personality and socialite, the creator of ''Sommarvillan'' (also known as ''Sommarnöjet'' and during the 18th century as ''Heleneberg''), a historic building at Lilla Skuggan in

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

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 ...

. She was a friend of Swedish poet

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well ...

, and she and circle of friends at her summer house, then known as ''Heleneberg'', is frequently mentioned in Bellman's poems and songs.

Life

Quiding was the daughter of the wealthy

brännvin Brännvin is a Swedish liquor distilled from potatoes, grain, or (formerly) wood cellulose. It can be plain and colourless, or flavoured with herbs and spices. Beverages labelled ''brännvin'' are usually plain and have an alcohol content between ...

merchant Johan Henric Lindberg (1719–1777) and his wife Helena Berg (1729–1788). Her parents were wealthy and owned real estate on

Drottninggatan Drottninggatan (''Queen Street'') in Stockholm, Sweden, is a major pedestrian street. It stretches north from the bridge Riksbron at Norrström, in the district of Norrmalm, to Observatorielunden in the district of Vasastaden. Composition Formi ...

and Fredsgatan in the centre of Stockholm. She married in 1776 to the

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

merchant Bengt Christopher Quiding (1746–1797), and had a son, Bernhard Christopher (1778–1846). The marriage was happy, but her spouse wasted her dowry and the fortune she inherited after her father and apparently persuaded her to forge her rich mother's name to be able to borrow more money, before he went bankrupt and fled the country in 1781, being sentenced in absentia in 1783.Byström, Olof: Med Bellman på Haga och Djurgården. Heleneberg, fru Quiding och Fiskartorpet. 1966 As a married woman, Quiding was legally a minor and was not charged for the forgery, but she was obliged to give up all property to the creditors and settle with her son in the home of her mother. In 1788, she inherited a second fortune after her mother and filed for a divorce, and in January 1789, she was formally

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

d from her spouse. In 1790, the year after her divorce, she spent a fortune by having the summer villa ''Heleneberg'' built at

, where she engaged in gardening and entertained culture personalities such as Bellman during the summers for a decade. Helena Quding and her circle at Heleneberg was the object of many of the poems of Bellman, such as the '' Djurgårdspastoralerna'' (Djurgården pastorals). It is not known when she and Bellman became acquainted, but they were friends by the time of her divorce proceedings in 1788, and he often celebrated her with poems the following years, such as at the inauguration of Heleneberg. She is described as beautiful, warmhearted but serious, and her life at Heleneberg as idyllic. Apparently, Bellman unsuccessfully attempted to court her at one point, and it is likely that she gave him financial support from time to time. The summers at Heleneberg ended in 1800, after several years of lawsuits with her neighbor

Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz Abraham Niclas (Clewberg) Edelcrantz (28 July 1754 – 15 March 1821) was a Finnish born Swedish poet and inventor. He was a member of the Swedish Academy, chair 2, from 1786 to 1821. Edelcrantz was the librarian at The Royal Academy of Tur ...

, who questioned her rights to the grounds, when she sold it and started to rent a cottage to spend her summers instead.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiding, Helena 18th-century Swedish people 1755 births 1819 deaths Gustavian era people