John (Johnny) August Emanuel Roosval (29 August 1879 – 18 October 1965) was a Swedish

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

ecclesiastical art specialist, and university professor.

Biography

Johnny Roosval was born in a bourgeois family in

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 41,388 inhabitants in 2020 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

, but grew up in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

from the age of five and went to school there.

Education

He studied at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

from 1897, and finished his ''kandidat'' degree in philosophy, Latin, French, and Æsthetics with the history of literature and art, and Scandinavian philology in two years. In 1899 he went to Berlin as a tutor for the son of the Swedish military attaché there, Henrik de Maré. The son,

Rolf de Maré Rolf de Maré (9 May 1888 – 28 April 1964), sometimes called Rolf de Mare, was a Sweden, Swedish art collector and leader of the Ballets Suédois in Paris in 1920–25. In 1931 he founded the world's first research center and museum for dance i ...

, later became known as an art collector and as the owner of the

Ballets Suédois The Ballets suédois (; "Swedish Ballets") was a predominantly Swedish dance ensemble based in Paris that, under the direction of Rolf de Maré (1888–1964), performed throughout Europe and the United States between 1920 and 1925, rightfully ea ...

. Henrik de Maré's wife, sculptor Ellen von Hallwyl, would later divorce him and married Johnny Roosval in 1907. At the same time, he enrolled at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

, where he was a student of

Heinrich Wölfflin Heinrich Wölfflin (; 21 June 1864 – 19 July 1945) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles (" painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in ...

and

Adolph Goldschmidt Adolph Goldschmidt (15 January 1863 – 5 January 1944) was a Jewish German art historian. He taught at University of Berlin from 1892 to 1903, and University of Halle from 1904 to 1912. Biography He was born on 15 January 1863 in the Free and ...

, two of the founders of art history as an academic discipline. Roosval joined Goldschmidt on bicycle tours of rural churches in the vicinities of Berlin, a method for art historical exploration he would later introduce to his Swedish students. He was awarded his Berlin Dr. phil. degree in 1903 for a dissertation on Flemish altarpieces in Sweden.

Work

Returning from Berlin to Sweden, he worked at the

Nordiska museet The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

in Stockholm and also trained as a reserve officer, later teaching at Uppsala University as a docent of art history, newly established as an independent discipline, having previously counted as part of the study of Æsthetics. He remained in Uppsala until 1914, when he moved to the

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

. There, he received a titular professorship in 1918, was appointed to the Anders Zorn professorship of Scandinavian and comparative art history in 1920, in accordance with the wishes of the donor, the painter

Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish artist who attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. His portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three President of the Un ...

, but transferred to the J. A. Berg professorship of art history and theory in 1930, becoming an emeritus in 1946. He also held the Kahn lectures at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1929 and the

Charles Eliot Norton lectures The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry at Harvard University was established in 1925 as an annual lectureship in "poetry in the broadest sense" and named for the university's former professor of fine arts. Distinguished creative figur ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

1936–1937. In 1933 he presided over the International Congress of the History of Art held in Stockholm.

Medieval ecclesiastical art

Roosval is known in particular for his studies of the medieval ecclesiastical art of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

, which he described in his ''Die Kirchen Gotlands: ein Beitrag zur mittelalterlichen Kunstgeschichte Schwedens'' (Stockholm: Norstedt, 1911) and ''Die Steinmeister Gottlands'' (Stockholm: Fritze, 1918). He also wrote extensively on the Saint George statue in the Stockholm Church of Saint Nicholas (

Storkyrkan Storkyrkan (, ), also called Stockholms domkyrka (Stockholm Cathedral) and Sankt Nikolai kyrka (Church of Saint Nicholas), is the oldest church in Stockholm. Storkyrkan lies in the centre of Stockholm in Gamla stan, between Stockholm Palace and ...

) and was the first to attribute it to the Lübeck master

Bernt Notke Bernt Notke (; – before May 1509) was a late Gothic artist from the Baltic region. He has been described as one of the foremost artists of his time in northern Europe. Life Very little is known about the life of Bernt Notke. The Notke fa ...

. With Sigurd Curman, he co-founded the ''Sveriges Kyrkor'' (The Churches of Sweden) documentation project, of which the first volume was published in 1912.

Personal life

;Villa Muramaris In 1917 the architect Arre Essén designed a country home for him, Villa Muramaris, near of

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

on the island of

in Sweden. It was a salon of art, with a sculpture garden. Visiting artists included Post-Impressionist painter

Nils von Dardel Nils Elias Kristofer von Dardel (25 October 1888 – 25 May 1943), sometimes known as Nils de Dardel, was a 20th-century Swedish Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter and grandson of the famous Swedish painter Fritz von Dardel. Biograp ...

. The Swedish Cultural Heritage Monument was destroyed by fire in January, 2013. Swedish Wikipedia: "Villa Muramaris" article Johnny Roosval died on 18 October 1965, in Stockholm.

References

Bibliography

*Svanberg, Jan: "Roosval, John (Johnny) August Emanuel", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon 30, pp. 360–368.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosval, Johnny Swedish art historians 20th-century Swedish non-fiction writers Writers from Stockholm Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Stockholm University 1879 births 1965 deaths