Johan Ross the Elder (''Johan Ross den äldre'') (1695 – March 26, 1773) was a Swedish church painter.

Early life

Ross was born at the village of Meldorff in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

. He was the son of Johan Ross and Anna Stockhouf. His father was a painter and taught him the trade. He was first mentioned in 1721 when he listed as a journeyman in ''Götheborgs Arts and Painters - Embete''. It also documents that he was a journeyman in his office in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. After his request for membership in the

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 ...

guild was refused, he traveled to Stockholm to continue his painting in 1730.

Career

Ross had several assignments in the Gothenburg region during the 1730s, and in 1730 he was doing extensive material rings and decorative works of Lundby main church (''Stora Lundby kyrka''). The church belongs to the Stora Lundby parish in the

Diocese of Gothenburg The Diocese of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs stift) is a diocese of the Church of Sweden. Since March 2018, the bishop has been Susanne Rappmann. The diocese includes the provinces of Bohuslän, Halland, and south-west parts of Västergötland. The ...

and is situated on the outskirts of

Gråbo Gråbo is a locality situated in Lerum Municipality, Västra Götaland County, 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 o ...

Lerum Municipality Lerum Municipality (''Lerums kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden, situated just east of Gothenburg. Its seat is located in the town of Lerum. In 1969 the municipality got its present size when "old" Lerum ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

, Sweden. In 1732, he appeared in

Askim Askim () is a town and a former municipality in (from January 1, 2020) Indre Østfold Kommune in the former county of Østfold county (from January 1, 2020 a part of Viken county), Norway. The administrative centre of the Askim municipality wa ...

, and

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area, just to the east of the city centre. It has a populati ...

in 1736 he painted window frames and barge boards. The colleagues in Gothenburg saw his independent intrusion into town with anxiety and irritability, and in 1737 invited Ross to join the ministry under the regulations of the guilds. He was named a "Painter in Gothenburg" on July 9, 1737, by resolution of the ''Royal Majesty and Reich Höglofl Commerce Collegium'', and was alderman in the Gothenburg painters guild from 1744 to 1767, after which he took leave.

Personal life

Ross married Helena Sibuelen in June 1751. His son Johan Ross the younger (1723-1767) became a master painter in Gothenburg. He was also the father of church painter Maria Ross Carowsky (1723-1793) who in 1744 married the church painter Michael Carowsky (1707-1745). His granddaughter Christina Elisabeth Carowsky (1745-1797) was a Swedish artist. He was also the brother of Ditloff Ross (1706-1764), a church painter in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

Works

A number of works by Ross have been lost including church paintings at

Landvetter Landvetter is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Härryda Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 7,152 inhabitants in 2010. It is the second largest town in the municipality and has given its name to the international a ...

(1732),

(1734), Partille (1753) and Backa (1759). Preserved art included altarpieces at the Church of Östad (''Östads kyrka'') and Öjared chapel (''Öjareds kapell'') both dating from 1729. The ceiling paintings in Örgryte old church (''Örgryte gamla kyrka'') likely made around 1740 by Ross and his son-in-law journeyman Michael Carowsky, who assisted in the painting of the church. The church belonging to the Örgryte parish in the Diocese of Gothenburg and is situated in the district of Bö in

Gothenburg Municipality Gothenburg Municipality (''Göteborgs kommun'' or ''Göteborgs stad'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Gothenburg. When the first Swedish local government acts were implement ...

. Michael Carowsky became master painter in Gothenburg in 1742. Ross, however, was the one who was asked to perform "painting throughout himlingen, bleachers and seats" for 400 daler silver. The ceiling in the medieval

Säve Church The Säve Church (Swedish: ''Säve kyrka'') is a medieval church in Gothenburg. It is located on the Hisingen island and belongs to the parish of Tuve-Säve. It belonged to the Säve parish until 2010, when the parishes of Tuve, Säve and Rödbo ...

(''Säve kyrka'') was covered with twelve large rectangular paintings, where the six eastern painted for the church extension in 1737 were probably by John Ross. The church is located on

Hisingen Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by the main arm of tha ...

island and belongs to the parish of Tuve-Säve. A bust in the

Museum of Gothenburg The Museum of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs stadsmuseum) is a local history museum located in the city centre of Gothenburg in western Sweden. It is located in the East India House ( sv, Ostindiska huset), originally built as the Swedish East Indi ...

is believed to be a self-portrait of Ross.

Collection

Ross was also an art collector. His estate inventory from 1749 was about 100 paintings and a collection of 700 prints, with names such as

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

and

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

occur. Many of the fabrics were probably Ross' own works, but most appear to have been acquired through purchase, exchange or inheritance. The collection allowed Ross excellent opportunities to study various designs, compositions, techniques and color selection.

References

Other sources

*Mellgren, Maria (2009) ''Kyrkor i Göteborgs stift : rapport över kyrkobyggnadsinventering och karakterisering 2001-2007'' (Göteborgs stifts skriftserie) * Fredlund, Björn; Lena Boëthius (2002) ''Konstens Göteborg : nedslag i fyra sekel'' (Gothenburg Art Museum: Gothenburg) , p. 20 *Horman, Ernst (1915) ''Örgryte gamla kyrka : bidrag till hennes historia'' (Erlander publishers: Gothenburg) * Berg, Wilhelm (1882) ''Samlingar till Göteborgs historia'' (F. & G. Beijer publishers. Stockholm) * Fernlund, Siegrun (1983) ''Götheborgs stadz art and painter-embete'' 99-0345976-9; 3 (Signum: Lund)