Valdemar Atterdag holding Visby to ransom, 1361
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''Valdemar Atterdag holding Visby to ransom, 1361'' is a historical painting (oil on canvas, signed in 1882) by the
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
historical painter
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 ...
(1851–1890). This painting depicts how the Danish king
Valdemar IV Valdemar IV Atterdag (the epithet meaning "Return of the Day"), or Waldemar (132024 October 1375) was King of Denmark from 1340 to 1375. He is mostly known for his reunion of Denmark after the bankruptcy and mortgaging of the country to finance ...
(a.k.a. Valdemar Atterdag) collects treasures from the people in the
Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
ic medieval town of Visby in the summer of 1361 following the Battle of Visby. If the town's people do not fill the three big beer vats with gold, silver and other riches, Valdemar will see to that the whole town is burned to the ground. This type of taxation is known as fire taxation ( Swedish: ''brandskattning''). King Valdemar Atterdag sits to the right, on an elevated red throne in front of the large St. Catherine's church, and observes the town dwellers as they run to fill the vats. At the centre of the painting, the main characters are seen—i.e. the mayor and his family. The mayor clenches his fist in wrath and looks at the Danish king, while his wife looks up to the sky, towards God. The wife plays the role of Virgin Mary, and she has a tear drop in the corner of her eye. The painting was made in Munich in the 1880s, about half a millennium after the actual event of 1361, hence there are some incorrect details in the painting—though Carl Gustaf Hellqvist was very ambitious when making pictures that were true to the period—for instance the
dachshund The dachshund ( or ; German: "badger dog"), also known as the wiener dog, badger dog, and sausage dog, is a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed. The dog may be smooth-haired, wire-haired, or long-haired, and comes in a variety of c ...
that is seen at the very left beer vat and the medieval houses in the background: The first dachshund was bred in the 16th century, ''not'' in the 14th century, thus an
anachronism An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time per ...
. For the houses in the background, there have never been any buildings like these in Visby—instead Hellqvist saw houses like these when he was travelling around in northern Germany. The mother in the midsection has her hair uncovered, although 14th century married women usually had their hair covered. "Valdemar Atterdag holding Visby to ransom, 1361" or "Valdemar Atterdag imposes a levy on Visby, 1361" was awarded a gold medal in Vienna, Austria, in 1882 and is now a part of the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in
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 ...
,
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 ...
. The original Swedish title for this painting is "''Valdemar Atterdag brandskattar Visby den 27 juli 1361''" and its dimensions are 201 cm × 327 cm (79.2″ × 128.8″).


References


Further reading

* *{{cite book , last=Rudnert , first=Sune , title=Carl Gustaf Hellqvist och hans historiemålning Valdemar Atterdag brandskattar Visby den 27 juli 1361 , year=1989 , publisher=Univ., Institutionen f. konstvetenskap , location=Lund , language=Swedish


External links


The National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Sweden
1882 paintings Gotland Paintings in the collection of the Nationalmuseum Stockholm Visby to ransom Swedish paintings Paintings of children Dogs in art Horses in art