Carl Larsson
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"Gratulationsadress till Philip" ("Congratulations address to Philip")
Signed C.L and dated Gbg 1890. Watercolour and ink, image 46.5 x 31.5 cm.
Literature
Ulwa Neergaard, "Carl Larsson. Signerat med pensel och penna", 1999, listed in the catalogue under the year 1890, p. 47 as no. 457.
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Carl Larsson writes in the congratulation: "Philip is congratulated! by the dog, the emblem of the region, in the past, present, and future, by the late Gäck, by the living Puck, and by all those who for the time being lie in the laps of the gods."
According to Ulwa Neergaard, the congratulation is for the great art patron Pontus Fürstenberg's brother Philip, who turned 60 years old on 6 October 1890. She writes: "Among the congratulators are the region's dogs (Puck among others), the gods Jupiter, Venus, and Mars, as well as C.L himself in the form of a self-portrait."
Artist
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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