Per Gustaf Floding (3 March 1731 - 17 October 1791) was a Swedish designer and engraver. He was an instructor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts.l

Biography

Floding was born at

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 ...

, Sweden. He first trained under Swedish architect and engraver

Jean Eric Rehn Jean Eric Rehn (18 May 1717, Stockholm - 19 May 1793, Stockholm) was a Swedish architect, engraver and designer. Biography His father, Eric, was a government ombudsman for the Sámi people. While still a boy, he became part of the , a forerunn ...

(1717-1793). In 1755 at sixteen years of age, Floding received local support to travel in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to learn engraving and work at the academy under the guidance of several notable painters and engravers. He was instructed by

François-Philippe Charpentier François-Philippe Charpentier (b. Blois, 1734; d. there 22 July 1817) was a French engraver and inventor. His father was a bookbinder, a poor man who reportedly made many sacrifices so that his son might attend the Jesuit college at Blois; but a ...

(1734-1817) and resided chiefly in Paris. He developed rich talents and with his progress flowed commissions of increasingly more generous benefits. In 1761, Floding produced engravings including '' King Adolf Frederick on his throne with the estates by his side'' and ''

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

against taking four children''. The engravings brought such a satisfaction, that the Estates awarded him 2,000

livres Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * F ...

annually, and the following year 600 livres for the procurement of equipment and instruments. Using these new tools in 1762 he developed what became known as the "laver insertion method" . In 1763, Floding was appointed Royal Majesty Engraver and Garde d' Estampes of Crown Prince and future King

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he s ...

. He returned in 1764 to Stockholm, where he began working on the creation of an engraving school, which also came into being. Through this school, the idea of a complete art school for Sweden gained new life. In 1768 the Royal Drawing Academy, which dated to 1735, was revived as the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (''Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna''). He received appointment to this post where until 1777, he served as professor of drawing at the academy and attended to secretarial duties. Later Floding came into conflict with the leadership at the academy and hinted that something was not right with the Academy's funds. However, during his time there he educated numerous disciples.

Selected work

He also engraved several plates, both in line and in

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

, among which are the following: *''The Portrait of

Alexander Roslin Alexander Roslin (; spelled Alexandre in French, ; 15 July 17185 July 1793) was a Swedish painter who worked in Scania, Bayreuth, Paris, Italy, Warsaw and St. Petersburg, primarily for members of aristocratic families. He combined insightful psyc ...

, painter''; after Roslin *''Apollo and Daphne''; after F. Boucher. *''Soldiers guarding a Prison''; after the same. *''A Girl sleeping, with a Dog by her''; after J. B. Deshais. *''Gustavus III., King of Sweden''; after L. Pasch. *''A Battle''; after Casanova.

References

Other sources

* Floding, Per Gustaf in Profil (second edition, 1908) Attribution: * * This article or parts of it are based on the article Floding, Per Gustaf from Swedish biographical hand dictionary (SBH), published in 1906. 1731 births 1791 deaths 18th-century Swedish engravers Artists from Stockholm {{Sweden-artist-stub