Alexander Roslin - with the ability to capture the extravagant

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Alexander Roslin - With the ability to capture the extravagant

Alexander Roslin was born in 1718 in Malmö and was the son of city physician Hans Roslin and Catherine Wertmüller. He began his artistic career, after having devoted himself first to studies in construction of ships, as a student of Lars Ehrenbill. Studies then continued in Stockholm for the court portraitist Georg Engelhard Schröder and then Roslin spent some years at the court of Brandenburg Culmbach and travelled around in Italy. In 1752 he went to Paris and was asked to assist the French court painter Boucher when he depicted the king's mistress, Madame de Pompadour.

In 1753 Roslin was elected into the French Academy of Fine Arts and was represented at the Paris Salon that year with not less than five portraits. Thus began an illustrious career in the city Roslin always dreamed of, and rarely has a foreign artist there so quickly passed through and won the hearts of the art-loving Parisians.

The good Swedish-French diplomatic relations at the time and fine letter of recommendation from the Court in Parma opened the doors to French society. Roslin became the portrait painter à la mode and was awarded a government pension and artist residence in the Louvre.

Henriette Agathe Rose Foâche

This enchanting portrait, representing Madame Henriette Agathe Rose Foäche, was painted and signed by Alexander Roslin in 1780 on the occasion of Henriette’s marriage to Pierre Stanislas Foâche (1737-1806), Royal secretary and Councellor to the French King. The work was commissioned to serve as a companion piece to the portrait of her husband, painted by the same artist in 1771.

Estimate: 600 000 - 800 000 SEK

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Portrait of a young woman in an embroidered pearl-grey silk dress with lilac ribbons.

The present portrait of an unknown lady was probably painted in the 1780s when Roslin was at the height of his artistic powers. In this portrait, Roslin captured the play of light reflections not only in the lavish and shimmering fabrics of the time but also in the skin, glistening eyes and rosy cheeks. He was a skilled character portraitist, and with acuity and exquisite finesse, he captured the young lady's personality and created an engaging portrait.

Estimate: 600 000 - 800 000 SEK

To the portrait