Såningskvinnan ( French: ''La Semeuse''), meaning "the sowing woman", popularly known as ''Johanna i Brunnsparken'', is a statue of a standing woman in

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 ...

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 of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, sculpted by

Per Hasselberg Per Hasselberg (1 January 1850 – 25 July 1894), until 1870 ''Karl Petter Åkesson'', was a Swedish sculptor. He has received critical acclaim mainly for his delicate and allegorical nudes, copies of which are widely distributed in public pla ...

in 1883. The original

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

version of the statue remains at the Medicinal history museum of Gothenburg. ''Såningskvinnan'' is thought of as the second oldest statue in Gothenburg and its first female statue.Bengt A. Öhnander (2004): ''Statyer berättar: 76 konstverk i Göteborg.'' Göteborg: Tre böcker.

Libris LIBRIS (Library Information System) is a Swedish national union catalogue maintained by the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia ...

br>9600298
.

History

Rittmeister __NOTOC__ (German and Scandinavian for "riding master" or "cavalry master") is or was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. A ''Rittmeister'' is typic ...

'' Carl Krook in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

made a donation of 10 thousand

Swedish krona The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it ...

in 1878 to the city of Gothenburg for the purpose that Jonas Reinhold Kjellberg and

Carl Kjellberg Carl may refer to: *Carl, Georgia, city in USA *Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name *Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of tel ...

wanted. They wanted the money to go to build a

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

at Brunnsparken. But as the money was not enough for the artefact they wanted to erect,

John West Wilson John West Wilson (8 October 1816 – 24 May 1889) was a businessman and arts patron. Biography John West Wilson was born at Hull, United Kingdom. He was the son of Thomas Wilson (1792–1869), founder of the shipping company Thomas Wilson Son ...

and

Pontus Fürstenberg Pontus Fürstenberg (4 October 1827 – 10 April 1902) was a Swedish art collector and merchant from a Jewish family. He was married to Göthilda Magnus. Background Pontus Fürstenberg was born at Östra Hamngatan 26, in Gothenburg, Sweden ...

offered to add the missing amount needed to erect a fountain in accordance to the model made by

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Per Hasselberg. The model had received a prize by the society

Gnistan IF Gnistan (''The Spark'' in English) is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Must ...

named in a contest. The sculpture is 7.5 metres tall, and consists of a basin, shell, column, and the statue proper. The basin is made of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

, the other parts of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

. A decorated shell rises out of the basin, with a general diameter of four metres. An octagonal column three metres tall rises out of the shell. Four

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

s are positioned onto the column's base, and at the column's top are eight lion heads, which function as water emitters. On top of the column stands the statue proper at 1.75 metres tall, a sowing woman with "''noble, fully featured forms and a mild, Nordic outfit, functioning as an authentic artistic creation''". The statue is naked except for a cloth draped on her waist, partly flowing in the wind. The woman is sowing seeds from her right hand, which she is taking out of a basket with her left. Underneath her feet the water flows up, down and sideways, and the

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

brings the parts into a whole. The artefact cost about 40 thousand krona. The two

candelabra A candelabra (plural candelabras) or candelabrum (plural candelabra or candelabrums) is a candle holder with multiple arms. Although electricity has relegated candleholders to decorative use, interior designers continue to model light fixtures ...

e on the side were also made by Hasselberg. ''Såningskvinnan'' and the fountain basin were cast in

by ''Gruet Jeunes'' in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and placed in

Brunnsparken, Gothenburg Brunnsparken ( Swedish for "well park") is a central square in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is located between Nordstan and Arkaden, and between two of Gothenburg's oldest streets, Norra Hamngatan and Södra Hamngatan (actually bordering Stora Hamn ...

. The statue was unveiled on the

nameday In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, among other parts of Christendom. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a ...

Johanna Johanna is a feminine name, a variant form of Joanna that originated in Latin in the Middle Ages, including an -h- by analogy with the Latin masculine name Johannes. The original Greek form ''Iōanna'' lacks a medial /h/ because in Greek /h/ cou ...

on 21 July 1883, with Oscar Ekman and the

Göta Artillery Regiment The Göta Artillery Regiment ( sv, Göta artilleriregemente), designation A 2, was a Swedish Army artillery regiment that traced its origins back to the 17th century. It was disbanded in 1962. The regiment's soldiers were originally recruited fro ...

present at the event. The statue is popularly called ''Johanna i Brunnsparken'', which probably comes from the day it was unveiled, alternatively from Johanna Ekstein, a dancer at the Stora Teatern, who is said to have served as the model for the sculptor Hasselberg. Carl Larsson depicted the statue in the painting "Interior from the Fürstenberg gallery" ”Interiör från Fürstenbergska galleriet” (1887) The statue was taken down in autumn 2015. It was reinstated on 10 March 2016 after a total renovation of the fountain basin and the column. The statue had been cleaned, waxed and partly reconstructed.

Selected versions

* Original in gypsum 1883, at the Museum of medicinal history in Gothenburg.Torell, Ulf (2007). ''Per Hasselberg: den nakna sensualismens skulptör.'' Ronneby: Ronneby hembygdsförening.

br>10643114
. * Cast in bronze 1882-1883 by Gruet Jeune, Paris (

- "Johanna"). * Cast in bronze 1919 at Otto Meyer's foundry ( Folk institute of Blekinge County in

Bräkne-Hoby Bräkne-Hoby is a locality situated in Ronneby Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 1,689 inhabitants in 2010. It has a middle school and used to have a högstadie (junior-high school). ''Bräkne-Hoby Parish'' is a parish in the Church of ...

). A gift to the institute by council member Lindvall, Havgården in Nättraby. * 143 statuettes of

parian ware Parian ware is a type of biscuit porcelain imitating marble. It was developed around 1845 by the Staffordshire pottery manufacturer Mintons, and named after Paros, the Greek island renowned for its fine-textured, white Parian marble, used since an ...

named ''Såerskan''Carenberg Carl-Olov, ed. (2005). ''Pariantillverkning vid Gustavsberg: 1861-1977.'' Motala. p. 44.

br>12079406
/ref> by

Gustavsberg porcelain Gustavsberg is a Swedish porcelain company that originated in 1826.Helena Dahlbäck Lutteman. ''Svenskt Porslin 1700-1900'' It broke up in the 1990s and was sold off in pieces, to the dismay of residents of the Gustavsberg area, but artisans conti ...

Sources

*Carenberg Carl-Olov, ed. (2005). ''Pariantillverkning vid Gustavsberg: 1861-1977''. Motala. p. 44.

br>12079406
*Cederblad, Albert (1884). ''Göteborg : skisserade skildringar af Sveriges andra stad i våra dagar jämte en återblick på dess minnen ...'' Göteborg: D. F. Bonnier. p. 27f.

br>1596176
*Dahlbäck Lutteman Helena, ed. (1975). ''Gustavsberg 150 år: tställningskatalog'' Nationalmusei utställningskatalog, 0585-3222 ; 389. Stockholm: Nationalmuseum. p. 23.

br>7602119
*Annika Gunnarsson, ed. (2010). ''Per Hasselberg.''

Waldemarsudde Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde (Swedish for ''Cape Waldemar''), is a museum located on Djurgården in central Stockholm. The name is composed of Waldemar, an Old German noble male name, and udde, meaning cape. It is derived from a historical name o ...

exhibition catalogue 0282-0323 ; 95:10. Malmö: Arena/Åmells Artbooks. p. 20, 40, 64, 103-104, 114, 124.

br>11659598
*Torell, Ulf (2007). ''Per Hasselberg: den nakna sensualismens skulptör.'' Ronneby: Ronneby hembygdsförening. p. 47-59, 60-76, 107, 108, 303, 334.

br>10643114
*Öhnander, Bengt A (2004). ''Statyer berättar: 6 konstverk i Göteborg'' Göteborg: Tre böcker. p. 24-26.

br>9600298

References

External links

* {{coord, 57, 42, 24.33, N, 11, 58, 6.87, E, region:SE, display=title 19th century in Gothenburg Bronze sculptures in Sweden 1883 sculptures Fountains in Sweden Sculptures of women in Sweden Outdoor sculptures in Gothenburg