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Portrait Exchange Between Stockholm and Vienna and the Formation of Gustav III’s Round Salon at Gripsholm Castle

2023; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 92; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00233609.2023.2242836

1651-2294

Michael Yonan,

Central European and Russian historical studies

AbstractThis article analyzes the origins of an important artistic commission in eighteenth-century Sweden, the so-called Round Salon (Runda Salongen) at Gripsholm Castle, a room decorated with portraits of the reigning monarchs of Europe (a galerie contemporaine) commissioned by King Gustav III in the mid 1770s. Based on documents newly uncovered in the National Archives of Sweden, this essay demonstrates that the room emerged out of concerns about Sweden’s place in the European political system during the difficult years after the bloodless revolution of 19 August 1772, which restored absolutism to Sweden. Central to Sweden’s negotiation of this era’s political landscape was Austria. A portrait by Lorens Pasch the Younger was sent to Empress Maria Theresa in late 1774 to establish support between Stockholm and Vienna. The documentary record reveals how this portrait began a dialogue and exchange between the two nations that sheds light on the Round Salon’s early history. It further reveals how monarchical portraits were intended to stimulate feelings of empathy and sentimentality for their recipients, proposes a firmer chronology for the room, and posits the importance of the Swedish statesman Ulrik Scheffer (1716–1799) to its genesis. AcknowledgmentsThe idea for this article began during a visit to Gripsholm Castle with three art historians – Mikael Ahlund, Carolina Brown, and Linda Hinners – who encouraged me to think about the Austrian presence in Runda Salongen. I am immensely grateful for their suggestions and encouragement and dedicate this essay to them in the spirit of Enlightenment amitié. In 2022 I had opportunity to present my ideas in seminars hosted by Stockholm University and at the Nationalmuseum. Many thanks to Anna Bortolozzi, Sabrina Norlander Eliasson, Catharina Nolin, Magnus Olausson, and Jessica Sjöholm Skrubbe for their comments, and to Kristoffer Neville for bibliographic help later. The staff of the Swedish National Archives at Marieberg were greatly helpful in navigating their extensive holdings.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Sixten Strömbom, Gripsholm, Stockholm, 1937; Per-Olof Westlund, Gripsholm under Vasatiden: En byggnadshistorisk undersökning, Stockholm, 1949. Unfortunately we lack a modern comprehensive analysis of this building’s architectural history.2 On Hedvig Eleonora’s Hall of State at Gripsholm, the main predecessor to the Round Salon, see Lisa Skogh, Material Worlds: Queen Hedvig Eleonora as Collector and Patron of the Arts, Stockholm, 2013, pp. 73–80.3 Magnus Olausson, “From Royal Storehouse to State Portrait Collection – The Period 1715–1822”, in The Swedish National Portrait Gallery: A Nation’s Memory over Six Centuries, Stockholm, 2022, pp. 31–57.4 On the presence of Habsburgs in northern European galleries, see Michael Yonan, “Picturing Empress Maria Theresa in Eighteenth-Century Denmark, Sweden, and Russia”, in Die Repräsentation Maria Theresias: Herrschaft und Bildpolitik im Zeitalter der Aufklärung, ed. Werner Telesko, Sandra Hertel, and Stefanie Linsboth, Vienna, 2020, pp. 415–424.5 The room’s ceiling was renovated at some point in its history. Nineteenth-century photos show a decorated ornamental design, possibly of nineteenth-century origin, while the current ceiling is unadorned. August Hahr, De Svenska Kungliga Lustslotten, Stockholm, 1899, pp. 468–469.6 Olausson, 2022, pp. 39–47.7 On Barck, see Fritz Arnheim, “Das Urtheil eines schwedischen Diplomaten über den Wiener Hof im Jahre 1756”, Mittheilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, No 10, 1889, pp. 287–284.8 For which see Alexander Roslin, Stockholm, 2007, pp. 98–99 and 141.9 R. Nisbet Bain, Gustavus III and his Contemporaries, London, 1894, p. 35.10 Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Germanica, Vol. 455 (1774), letter of Nils Barck dated 24 November 1774.11 Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger, Maria Theresia: Die Kaiserin in ihrer Zeit, München, 2017, p. 167.12 Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Germanica, Vol. 455 (1774), letter of Nils Barck dated 8 December 1774.13 For which see, among many studies, Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, ed., Fragile Diplomacy: Meissen Porcelain for European Courts, c. 1710–63, New Haven and London, 2007, pp. 3–23, and for the Habsburgs specifically Ilsebill Barta and Hubert Winkler, “Portraitgeschenke am kaiserlichen Hof”, in Kaiserliche Geschenke, ed. Eva B. Ottillinger, Linz, 1988, pp. 30–38.14 The granddaughter was Maria Antonia of Parma (1774–1841), born in Italy to Maria Theresa’s daughter Maria Amalia. News of her birth on 28 November had reached Vienna immediately before Barck presented the portrait to the Empress.15 Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias: Tagebuch des Fürsten Johann Joseph Khevenhüller-Metsch, kaiserlichen Obsersthofmeisters, 1742–1776, Vol. 8, Tagebuch des Fürsten Johann Joseph und Nachträge von anderer Hand, 1774–1780, ed. Maria Breunlich-Pawlik and Hans Wagner, Vienna, 1972, entry for 6 December 1774.16 Lorenz Seelig, Golddosen des 18. Jahrhunderts aus dem Besitz der Fürsten von Thurn und Taxis, München, 2007, pp. 25–33; and for Maria Theresa specifically, Michael Yonan, “Portable Dynasties: Imperial Gift-Giving at the Court of Vienna in the Eighteenth Century”, The Court Historian No 14, 2009, pp. 177–188.17 On this portrait type and its place in Pasch’s oeuvre, see Sixten Strömbom, Porträttmålaren Lorens Pasch d. y.: hans liv och konst, Stockholm, 1915, pp. 163–165. According to Strömbom a version was also sent to the Gemäldegalerie in Kassel.18 Olausson, 2022, p. 43.19 Olausson, 2022, p. 44.20 Bo Vahlne, “Bland jämlikar den främste: Alexander Roslins porträtt av Gustav III i Runda salongen”, in Porträtt Porträtt, ed. Ulf G. Johnsson, Stockholm, 1987, p. 64.21 Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Germanica, Vol. 517 (1775), report by Nils Barck dated 3 February 1775.22 Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Germanica, Vol. 456 (1775).23 Bain, Gustavus III, I, p. 157–8. Gustav III used Ulriksdal as a major residence for the royal court.24 Bain, Gustavus III, I, p. 159.25 Michael Roberts, The Age of Liberty: Sweden, 1719–1772, Cambridge, 1986, p. 204–205.26 Bain, Gustavus III, p. 209. Further evidence of this can be found in the correspondence of Gustav Philip Creutz, Swedish ambassador to Paris, who in 1774 reported to Stockholm multiple times that, in his words, mishandling this moment pourra changer bien vite toute la politique de l’Europe. Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Gallica, Vol. 438 (1774), dispatch of Gustav Philip Creutz dated 4 September 1774. A later missive specifically concerns Creutz’s fears that Sweden would lose its independence without vigorous international support. Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Gallica, Vol. 438 (1774), dispatch of Gustav Philip Creutz dated 20 November 1774.27 ”en personlig jalousie öfver Eder Kongl Majt gåfvor och höga egenskaper, som falla Konungen af Preußen så mycket mer i ögonen, som Han torde förmena Sig äga un privilege exclusif att allena besittja den stora ock ädla Regerings konsten”.28 Quoted in Roberts, Age of Liberty, p. 43. See also Elise M. Dermineur, Gender and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Sweden: Queen Lovisa Ulrika (1720–1782), London, 2017, pp. 142–149.29 Michael Roberts, “Great Britain and the Swedish Revolution, 1772–3”, in Essays in Swedish History, Minneapolis, 1966, pp. 311–312.30 Franklin D. Scott, Sweden: The Nation’s History, Carbondale and Edwardsville, 1988, p. 267. On Scheffer’s activities as ambassador to Paris, see Lars Trulsson, Ulrik Scheffer som hattpolitiker: Studier i hattregimens politiska och diplomatiska historia, Lund, 1947. On the problems of conceptualizing the relationship between diplomacy and culture in early modern Sweden, see Heiko Droste, ”Diplomacy as a Means of Cultural Transfer in Early Modern Times: The Swedish Evidence”, Scandinavian Journal of History No 31, 2006, pp. 144–150, with additional bibliography.31 Scott, Sweden, p. 274. On the physiocrats’ influence on the Scheffer brothers’ ideas about statehood, see Charlotta Wolff, “Le comte Carl Fredrik Scheffer, traducteur des physiocrates français et promoteur de la monarchie renforcée en Suède”, La Révolution française No 12, 2017, accessed 12 April 2022 (http://journals.openedition.org/lrf/1757), and idem., Noble conceptions of politics in eighteenth-century Sweden (ca. 1740–1790), Helsinki, 2008.32 Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Germanica, Vol. 517 (1775), apostille of Ulrik Scheffer dated 31 March 1775.33 Nationalmuseum, NMGrh 2424, 1770s. Several other eighteenth-century miniatures of Maria Theresa are in the collection, including a jeweled boîte-à-portrait done after Anton Raphael Mengs, NMB 962, and a portrait on ivory by Johann Eusebius Alphen, NMB 835. On this important collection, see Magnus Olausson and Eva-Lena Karlsson, Miniature Painting in the Nationalmuseum: A World-Class Collection, Stockholm, 2021.34 Isabella Schmittmann, Anton von Maron (1731–1808): Leben und Werk, München, 2013, pp. 17–36.35 Olausson, 2022, p. 44.36 This is true of at least one other image in the room, that of Frederick II. Clearly visible when viewed in raking light is that the figure’s head is a smaller portrait inserted into a larger canvas and filled out to create a full-length likeness. It is possible that this smaller image was sent from Germany, but could also have been made after a miniature, as proposed here for the Habsburg portraits.37 Stockholm, Riksarkivet, Diplomatica Germanica, Vol. 599 (1775), letter of Joseph Preindl dated 5 May 1775.38 This point echoes points in the extensive literature on early modern portraits. The two fundamental studies are Louis Marin, Le portrait du roi, Paris, 1981; Peter Burke, The Fabrication of Louis XIV, New Haven, 1992; and for a recent treatment of the Habsburgs specifically, Werner Telesko, ed., Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien, und Architektur, Vienna, 2017.39 Hahr, Kungliga Lustslotten, p. 471, claims that the room’s redecroration took place after 1779.