Carl Larsson
"En sprätt / Un incroyable"
Signed C.L. and dated 1881. Watercolour and pencil on paper 15,5 x 10,5 cm.
Literature
Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, catalogued under the year 1881, page 17, nr 82. Compare nr 81 "Tyst protest / Carl Larsson som Napoleon", pastel executed 1881, reproduced in colour, page 35 in the first volume.
More information
Katalognumret återgår på den pastell vid namn "Tyst protest/Carl Larsson som Napoleon" vilken utfördes av Carl Larsson i Paris 1881. Om pastellen berättar Ulwa Neergaard följande: "Om denna pastell berättas det, att doktor Axel Munthe och en av hans vänner, en ambassadör, uppsökte Carl Larsson i hans ateljé i Paris, när han höll på med att fullborda denna målning. Båda blev förtjusta i tavlan och ville förvärva densamma. Detta hade Carl Larsson inget emot. För att avgöra vem av dessa två, som skulle bli den lycklige ägaren, singlade man krona och klave om saken. Ambassadören vann och tavlan följde med på ambassadörens olika tjänstgöringar runt om i världen".
Katalognumret upprepar pastellens motiv och sändes av Larsson hem till Stockholm från Paris våren 1881 och mottogs med välvilja av samtiden. Enligt kritiken var den framställd med mycket humor och karaktär.
Designer
Carl Larsson is considered one of the greatest Swedish artists of all time. He was born in Gamla Stan in Stockholm and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in the years 1866-76. After his studies in Stockholm, he traveled to France and settled in Grèz-sur-Loing. There he mainly painted garden motifs. In France, he met his future wife Karin Bergöö, who was also an artist and came to mean a lot for his artistry. Already during his student years, he made a living as a photo retoucher and cartoonist in the press. It was also during his studies that Larsson got to know Anders Zorn and Bruno Liljefors, together the three are usually called the ABC artists. At the end of the 1880s, Carl and Karin were given "Lilla Hyttnäs" in Sundborn outside Falun by Karin's father, and this is where Larsson's most famous watercolors depicting his family were created. The motifs often depict sunny landscapes with children, crayfish fishing, meals in the green and interior scenes. Larsson is represented, among other, in the National Museum, where "Gustav Vasas intåg i Stockholm" and "Midvinterblot" fills the stairwell. Represented mainly at the National Museum in Stockholm and at the Gothenburg Art Museum.
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