Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Education and Mental Culture. Introd. by P. E. Lindström - 10. Fine Arts - Architecture. By [F. Sundbärg]; revised on the basis of information contributed by Ragnar Östberg, Carl G. Bergsten, and S. Curman
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architecture.
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Within the domain of ecclesiastical architecture, the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries in Sweden exhibit the introduction of the "central church type", to
which Tessin, the Elder, gave the initiative in Kalmar Cathedral. These periods,
moreover, enriched the churches with a number of — often magnificent —
sepulchral monuments and mortuary chapels, added to the main building by
noble families.
The early part of the 19th Century shows the impress chiefly of the "Empire
style", called in Sweden the "Carl Johan style"; this tendency in architecture may
be termed the last word of French influence in the country. The Carolina
Rediviva Library in Uppsala furnishes one of the stateliest examples among
secular buildings, simply but splendidly planned; and in the same period
departing classicism leaves its last traces in Skeppsholm church at Stockholm, by
F. Blom (1781—1853), whose work there is harmonious and well balanced.
After that the thread of tradition was broken, and with the middle of the 19th
century arose a forced, straining search for motives from the four corners of
the earth: this was connected with industrial conditions, and later more especially
with the use concealed of rolled iron girders, and it resulted in the degeneration
of architecture from the art of building into the art of decorating.
The most prominent exponent of this decorative style was the versatile and
highly gifted artist, F. V. Scholander (1816—81), who evidenced a refined sense
of proportion and rhythm more especially in the Stockholm Synagogue, which
betrays delicate feeling in ornamentation, and an elevated conception of southern
forms. The better structures which were produced simultaneously with, or
immediately after, his, all received the impress of his work, and were
characterized by the same interest in harmonious form, without due importance being
attached to the genuineness of the material, which was often imitation, nor to
construction which often lacked proper attention. An unhappy manifestation of
a tendency which was undesviable is to be found in the restoration of many
renowned cathedrals, which was undertaken at about the same time. Here an
insufficient acquaintance with mediaeval architecture was fraught with disastrous
consequences in the matter of distortion. Genuine specimens from the Middle
Ages, which still survived untouched, were reconstructed; and interesting relics
of succeeding periods, which rendered the cathedrals eloquent historical records,
were done away. Sad examples of this process exist in the cathedrals in Lund,
Skara, Uppsala, etc.
This restoration movement brought with it partly a quasi-mediaeval church
architecture, and partly an awakening to the proper use of materials, and an
approach towards a consideration of the problems of construction.
An imposing proof of this revived feeling for genuine architecture is furnished
by the Northern Museum (Nordiska museet), built in Stockholm in the latter
years of the 19th century by I. G. Clason (b. 1856). Just as the principle
of the whole institution was the linking up of Swedish life of to-day with
vanished Swedish tradition, so this building utters a word in season, expresses
a monumental idea, which combines the ancient energy of the North with
modern development. In the perfection of the facades of the Adelsvärd and
the von Rosen mansion, the same artist has produced the finest specimens of
architecture in private buildings of the 19th century in Stockholm. Clason’s
forte is recognizable there; a profound and refined knowledge of the Renaissance
coupled with a thorough and ardent capacity for building.
In opposition to the unity of form at the beginning of the century, called
the "Carl Johan style", its end was marked by a restless hankering for past
styles of all dates and climes. However various were the motives, the work
upon them was nevertheless concentrated on the use of a crowd of different
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