Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Education and Mental Culture. Introd. by P. E. Lindström - 10. Fine Arts - Sculpture. By [C. R. Nyblom] Carl G. Laurin
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situ’tl’re.
511
man above mentioned, represented in the costume of his own time (1790,
unveiled in 1808). These last works were the by no means inconsiderable
result of his recall, but still he was destined by his genius for something else.
He was the first who, from an ideal basis, broke with the baroque and the
French traditions, and sensuous as he was, he felt called to carry that
movement forward, without too strong a tendency towards the objective coldness of
the Antique. But it was not vouchsafed to him to carry the work out. He
became a Protesilaos, — sacrificed at the beginning of the contest and not
allowed to partake in the storming of Troy. The fact that his later activity
was passed in far-away Sweden prevented him from influencing the development
of European art as he might otherwise have done. But he is, nevertheless,
not only the first, but possibly the greatest among artists of Swedish birth.
A special kind of sculpture, most eagerly practised in this country during
the 18th century, was medal-engraving. Foremost in this art stood J. K.
Hedlinger of Switzerland, who lived in Sweden 1718—45, with one or two
intervals for travels to the South, a master who, in his day, was chief in Europe,
and who executed many medals recalling Grecian excellence. He was succeeded,
first by his clever pupil D. Fehrman (1710—1801) and then by a pupil of
the latter, G. Ljungberger (1734—87).
By continuing the traditions of Sergei, sculpture maintained its position well
during the first half of the 19th century, while the other arts languished and
declined. The first practisers of the art of Sergei were also his disciples —
first E. G. Göthe (1799—1838), who, however, was more strongly impressed
by Canova than by his manly Swedish teacher; then J. N. Byström (1783—
1848), a superior rival of the former, who spent the later part of his life
mostly in Rome, distinguished himself in the sensually luxurious, and became
a master in the manipulation of marble: see, for instance, Juno with the child
Hercules at her breast and the dainty and delightful statue of Emilie Högquist,
the actress.
Of quite a different stamp was the third and best known among the sculptors
of the first half of the 19th century, B. E. Fogelberg (1786 — 1854), who against
the world-gods of Antiquity — worn out during the three centuries since the
Renaissance — dared to set up new, original, nationally Scandinavian ideals,
sprung from a sound, energetic, creative imagination. His success was also
acknowledged by the respectful judgment passed by Thorvaldsen upon his Thor
(in Rome 1842). Moreover, he embellished the capital with a couple of statues,
excellent for their date: that of Birger Jarl and of Charles John XIV; and
Gothenburg with that of Gustavus Adolphus II. His successor, both in general
tendency and in monumental sculpture was K. G. Qvarnström (1810 — 67), of
which evidence is afforded by his mythological group of Loke and Höder, as
well as by his statues of Tegnér, Engelbrekt, and Berzelius. Contemporary
with him was J. P. Molin (1814—73), who, after receiving his early training
in Copenhagen, continued his work in Rome and, finally, acquired by his
Wrestlers a fame not in any way diminished by the adverse criticism of his statue
of Charles XII (1868). The brilliantly conceived fountain in Kungsträdgården
(Stockholm) is also his work.
Among deceased sculptors remain to be mentioned: the successor of Molin
at the Academy, J. F. Kjellberg (1836 -85) the originator of the Linné statue
in Stockholm. A. Carlsson (1846—78) •— a disciple of Molin — best known
for his bronze Väse and works of early Scandinavian tendency. I. Fahlstedt
(1848—99), renowned for his excellence in realistic statuary and for a statue
of John Ericsson, erected in Göteborg; and — last but not least — P.
Hasselberg (1850—94), one of the foremost sculptors. He studied in Paris and made
his name by his second work, The Snowdrop (1881), and has since, again and
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