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 Kungsör is a locality and the seat of Kungsör Municipality in Västmanland County Västmanland County ( sv, Västmanlands län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, Gävleborg, Dalar ...

, between Arboga and Eskilstuna at

Lake Mälaren A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, Sweden, where he grew up and went to school. In 1864 Hellqvist started to study art at the

Swedish Royal Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, archite ...

in Stockholm, and in 1875 he was awarded the Royal Academy's highest prize for his painting " Gustav Vasa accuses Peder Sunnanväder and Mäster Knut in front of the chapter in Västerås" Swedish: ''Gustav Vasa anklagar Peder Sunnanväder och Mäster Knut inför domkapitlet i Västerås''. Two years later in 1877 Hellqvist was awarded a travelling scholarship from the Academy, and he travelled around the European continent. He moved together with his fiancée, to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

in 1879.

In 1882 he and Julie Karoline Friederike Thiersch (1859-1933) were married and left for Paris, where Hellqvist earlier had been present at the Paris Salon with his oil painting "The Death of Sten Sture the Younger on the Ice of Lake Mälaren" (

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 b ...

: ''Sten Sture d y:s död på Mälarens is''). In August 1882 he was awarded the gold medal for his magnificent historical painting "Valdemar Atterdag Holding Visby to Ransom, 1361" (

: ''Valdemar Atterdag brandskattar Visby'') in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 1886 Hellqvist suffered from severe headaches which forced him to take a leave from his teaching at ''Königliche akademische Hochschule für die Bildenden Künste'' at Berlin. He ended his period of historical painting at the same time. In 1889 Hellqvist received treatment for his disease and he was ordered on a diet. In 1890 it was announced that Hellqvist's studio-objects were to be sold. Probably the most famous photograph of his studio was taken at the same time, which shows how a historical painter's studio looked like during the late 19th century. From March 1889 he stayed in a

mental hospital Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociati ...

, and he died there on 19 November 1890 at the age of 38. He was buried in Munich.

Works

References

Other sources

*Rudnert, Sune (1991) ''I historiemålarens verkstad: Carl Gustaf Hellqvist – liv och verk'' (Lund, Sweden : Lund University Press) . *Rudnert, Sune (1989) ''Carl Gustaf Hellqvist och hans historiemålning Valdemar Atterdag brandskattar Visby den 27 juli 1361'' (Lund, Sweden : Lund University Press)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hellqvist, Carl Gustaf 1851 births 1890 deaths People from Kungsör Municipality 19th-century Swedish painters Swedish male painters 19th-century painters of historical subjects 19th-century Swedish male artists