Margareta Capsia (1682 – 20 June 1759) was a Swedish/Finnish artist, the first professional native female artist in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, which during her lifetime was a part of Sweden. She mainly painted altarpieces, but was also active as a portrait painter.

Biography and career

Capsia was born in Sweden, the child of Gottfried Capsia and Anna Schultz. She married the priest Jacob Gavelin in Stockholm in 1719. After the

Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...

in 1721 they moved to Vasa (Fi. Vaasa), where Margareta became known as an altarpiece painter in Österbotten. In 1730, they moved to

Åbo Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

(Fi. Turku), where she became a famous artist throughout Finland, and where she eventually died. Her altarpieces were described as individual illustrations of the bible, and she was regarded as one of the best painters in the genre together with

Mikael Toppelius Mikael Toppelius (10 August 1734, Oulu – 27 December 1821, Oulu) was a Finnish church painter; the last significant representative of the Ostrobothnian church painting tradition. His grandson was the well-known writer, Zachris Topelius. Biog ...

. She painted the altarpieces of a long line of churches, such as in the churches of

Paltamo Paltamo ( sv, Paltamo, also ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Kainuu region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . There are two built-up areas in the municip ...

in 1727 and

Säkylä Säkylä is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Satakunta region, southeast of the city of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water (). The population density is ...

in 1739.

References

Ladies' Salon
* Aartomaa, Ulla (toim.), Naisten salonki, 1700-luvun eurooppalaisia naistaiteilijoita. WSOY 2007. * Ars : Suomen taide 2. 1988: C. Granroth, Margareta Capsia. * C. Granroth, Margareta Capsia : biografiska uppgifter och tre bibliska motiv / pro gradu, taidehistorian laitos, Helsingin yliopisto. 1985; A. Luukko, Vaasan historia II. 1979.
Evl.fi - Finnish Church Art and Architecture

1682 births 1759 deaths 18th-century Finnish artists 17th-century Finnish people Swedish painters 17th-century Finnish painters 17th-century women artists 17th-century Finnish women 18th-century Finnish women Finnish women painters {{Finland-painter-stub