Lucas von Breda (18 April 1676,

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 ...

- 9 April 1752, Stockholm) was a Swedish portrait painter, art collector, and industrialist. He is sometimes referred to as The Elder, to distinguish him from his son, ; an

insurance adjuster A claims adjuster, desk adjuster, field adjuster, or general adjuster (claim adjuster, claims handler, claim handler or loss adjuster in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean and New Zealand) investigates insurance cl ...

Life and work

He was born to the wholesale merchant, Pieter von Breda of

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, whose family was originally from

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe * London-Brabant Massif, a geological structure stretching from England to northern Germany Belgium * Province of Bra ...

. Pieter and his wife, Alida née Hidding, moved to Stockholm around 1670. When Alida became a widow, in the 1690s, she arranged for Lucas to take art lessons from Martin Mijtens, with whom he was allowed to make his first foreign trip in 1697. After visiting Germany and the Netherlands, he went to Paris where, in 1704, he continued his studies with

Nicolas de Largillière Nicolas de Largillière (; 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a French portrait painter, born in Paris. Biography Early life Largillière's father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at the age of three. As a boy, he spent nearly two years in ...

. Largillière's influence was decisive, although Breda chose a different approach to color. He returned home in 1712, and quickly became a popular portraitist among the upper classes. His paintings stood out from those of his contemporaries by, among other things, a red and violet representation of skin color. He also created works with mythological motifs; notably a

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

and

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

which was found in an art collection in

Neschers Neschers is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. See also *Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department The following is a list of the 464 communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department of France. Intercommunalities ...

. In 1718, he married Elisabeth Buchholtz; niece of the famous architect,

Carl Hårleman Baron Carl Hårleman (27 August 1700 – 9 February 1753) was a Swedish architect. Biography Hårleman was born in Stockholm, son of the garden architect and head of the royal parks and gardens Johan Hårleman, who had been ennobled in 1698. ...

. His dowry from her family included a silk factory and a dyehouse. These businesses increasingly occupied more of his time, so that his painting began to suffer. After 1725, he had virtually given it up. He instead turned his attention to art collecting, laying the foundations for a gallery that his son would establish at 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 ...

. His overall production was not extensive, and the majority of his works are in private collections. His grandson,

Carl Frederik von Breda Carl Frederik von Breda (16 August 1759 – 1 December 1818) was a Swedish painter who studied in and spent much of his career in Britain before becoming painter to the Swedish court. He was born in Stockholm in 1759, and moved to Britain where ...

, was also a portrait painter.

Sources

* Gösta Lilja, Bror Olsson, Knut Andersson and S. Artur Svensson (Eds.) ''

Svenskt konstnärslexikon The ''Svenskt konstnärslexikon'' is a dictionary of Swedish art and artists that was published in five volumes by Allhems Förlag AB from 1952 to 1967.Gabriel Anrep John Gabriel Anrep (December 4, 1821 – March 12, 1907) was a Swedish genealogist and author. Biography He was born on December 4, 1821 at Lekeberg Municipality on the family farm. He moved to Stockholm and was involved in genealogical pub ...

, ''Svenska adelns Ättar-taflor'' (Descendants of Swedish Nobility), Gustaf Elgenstierna, Stockholm 1925
Biographical notes
from the ''

Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon ''Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon'' () is a compact Swedish dictionary of biography first published in 1873–1876 by the physician and antiquarian Herman Hofberg (1823–1883). The second, updated edition was published in 1906, under the editor ...

'' @

Project Runeberg Project Runeberg ( sv, Projekt Runeberg) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries. Patterned after Project Gutenberg, it was founded ...

Biographical notes
from the ''

Nordisk familjebok ''Nordisk familjebok'' (, "Nordic Family Book") is a Swedish encyclopedia that was published in print from between 1876 and 1993, and that is now fully available in digital form via Project Runeberg at Linköping University. Despite their consi ...

'' @ Project Runeberg
Brief biography
@ the ''Lexikonett Amanda''

External links

Works by Breda
@ the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breda, Lucas von 1676 births 1752 deaths Swedish painters Swedish portrait painters Artists from Stockholm