Karlsborg Municipality
Karlsborg Municipality (''Karlsborgs kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Karlsborg.
The present municipality was formed in 1971 when "old" Karlsborg was amalgamated with ...
- 16 November 1889,
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 ...
) was a Swedish military officer, painter and
lithographer
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
topographer
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...
and aspiring artist. He initially followed in his father's footsteps and became an
Underlöjtnant
''Underlöjtnant'' (from the German word ''Unterleutnant'') was the lowest officer rank in the Swedish Army from 1835 to 1937 instead of the previous ranks of ''fänrik'' and cornet. was reintroduced in 1914 with the same position as , from 1926 ...
in 1843. His active service was relatively short, however, as he resigned in 1848. His education in art began with his father, then continued at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, where he became an (a type of member candidate), the year of his resignation. Prior to that, he took several study trips to France and Italy.
Another factor that prompted his resignation was the death of his father; whose studio he took over. At first, he supported himself by making copies of his father's paintings, but soon began to create his own portraits. From 1852 to 1854, he made some additional study trips, to
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
, and studied with
Thomas Couture
Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...
in Paris from 1855 to 1856. Although he never achieved his father's realistic clarity, he was accepted in society as a sort of replacement. Unlike his father, he also painted landscapes and
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
scenes.
In addition to paintings, he also created lithographs, primarily with Italian motifs. Later, in 1868, he donated the originals to the newly expanded
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 ...
.
He participated in numerous exhibitions of the Academy and a major showing at Copenhagen's Charlottenborg Palace in 1851. From 1872 to 1888, he participated in several Nordic Art exhibitions, also in Copenhagen. He became a full member of the Swedish Academy in 1874.
Among his most familiar sitters, outside Sweden, were the artists,
Nils Blommér
Nils Blommér, born Nils Johan Olsson (12 June 1816 – 1 February 1853) was a Swedish painter. His middle name is sometimes given as Jakob.
Biography
He was born to the schoolteacher, Anders Olsson, and his wife, Elsa née Jakobsdotter, in Blo ...
, and
Fritz von Dardel
Fritz Ludvig von Dardel (24 March 1817 – 27 May 1901) was a Swedish diarist, illustrator and early comics artist. He was a courtier, and is known for his diary and illustrations depicting the life of the Swedish court in the mid-19th century. ...
, who also began as a military officer, and the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. A major retrospective of his works was held in Stockholm in 1891, together with works by Gustaf Wilhelm Palm,
Carl Gustaf Hellqvist
Carl Gustaf Hellqvist (15 December 1851 – 19 November 1890) was one of Sweden's most popular historical painters in the 19th century.
Biography
He was born in Kungsör, between Arboga and Eskilstuna at Mälaren, Lake Mälaren, Sweden, whe ...
and . In additional to the Nationalmuseum, his works may be seen at the Academy's art gallery, Waldemarsudde and the
Nordic Museum
The Nordic Museum ( sv, Nordiska museet) is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to be ...
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 ...