Portrait of a Young Girl
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made c. 1880
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 35 x 26,7 cm h x w x d: Ram 43,5 x 34,5 x 4,5 cm
Inventory numberNM 7048
AcqusitionPurchase 2008 Hedda and N.D. Qvist Fund
Other titlesTitle (sv): Porträtt av ung flicka Title (en): Portrait of a Young Girl
DescriptionDescription: Hugo Salmson travelled to France as early as 1868 and was to spend the rest of his life there. He began his career as a history painter but was increasingly influenced by contemporary French art and was considered in the end to be more French than Swedish. Samson became a successful role model for the younger Swedes who arrived in Paris in the late 1870s. He was admired for his great technical proficiency, of which this painting is a good example. Description in Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, vol 15, 2008: Portrait of a Young Girl NM 7048 With its Holbeinian finish this little portrait of a young girl is an excellent example of Huga Salmson´s technical skill so admired by his artist colleagues. With its range of colours, the clothes and the chair on which the girl is seated, the painting is a rococo pastiche, a popular genre at the time. But as such, unusual, as the look in her eyes is so intense and direct that it over shadows what could be understood as masquerade-like. The firm gaze makes the painting different from Salmson´s other paintings of girls, for instance The Little Gleaner in the Nationalmuseum collection, NM 1362, where the person depicted seems resigned or burdened with hard work.
Motif categoryPortrait
Collection
TechniquePainting
Keyword
External links