Carl Fredrik Hill
"Parafras över Jesu dop I"
Crayon and Indian Ink on paper. 25 x 31 cm.
Provenance
Dr. Phil. Carl-Louis Sandblom, Quebec; Åmells Fine Art Dealer, Stockholm; Private Collection.
Literature
Nils Lindhagen, "Carl Fredrik Hill. Sjukdomsårens konst", 1976, illustrated p 174 and under cat no 320.
More information
Under 1870-talet kretsade Hills föreställningsvärld mycket om frälsartanken. Inspirationen till flertalet kompositioner är hämtade från Dorés numera ikoniska gestaltning av Bibeln. Konstnären identifierar sig själv med frälsaren och Nils Lindhagen skriver följande om katalognumret i sin omfattande bok om konstnären:
”Nästa fas ses i [katalognumret], där tecknaren som så ofta vänt på det hela. Den yngling som ännu befinner sig i vattnet återkommer i mitten i förklarad gestalt, träffad av det gudomliga ljuset och därför i sin nästa uppenbarelse t.v. ändå närmare det himmelska. Den sköna har flyttats över på högra sidan, omvänd också i ställningen. Metoden att med vertikalställda vita streck skapa en ridå som skiljer de utvalda från åskådarna bakom har sannolikt inspirerats av ljusstrålarna som utgår från den helige andes duva”. (Lindhagen, sid 174).
Artist
Carl Fredrik Hill was a Swedish artist born in Lund. Hill is considered one of Sweden's formost landscape painters. His fate and artistry are perhaps the strangest but most interesting in Swedish art history. Born in an academic home in Lund, despite his father's protests, he managed to begin studies at the Art Academy in Stockholm and then traveled to France, where he came in contact with Corot's landscape painting. He found his inspiration in Barbizon and later on the River Oise, in Luc-sur-Mer and Bois-le-Roi. He painted frantically with the hope of being accepted into the Salon de Paris. Already during his student years, he struggled with an incipient mental illness and at the age of 28 he was taken to the mental hospital in Passy. During the hospital stay he began his rich production of drawings and then continued with the production after his return to Lund, where he was cared for by his family for the rest of his life. In thousands drawings, a fantasy world of figures scenes appears. Today, Hill's river landscape and flowering fruit trees from the years in France, together with the visionary drawings from the period of illness in Lund, have received great recognition. His art depicts a loneliness and longing that is easy to get caught up in. He is mainly represented at the Malmö Museum and at the National Museum in Stockholm.
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