Purchased by Nationalmuseum last year from a British art dealer, The Faithful Friendship is a rare work by the French sculptor Jean-Baptiste Stouf, exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1795. Stouf was a close friend of Johan Tobias Sergel during their student years in Rome more than two decades earlier.
Following a procurement process, Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has appointed the London based brand consultancy Jane Wentworth Associates. The project will start in autumn this year setting the direction for the opening of the new Nationalmuseum in 2017.
Nationalmuseum will open its temporary exhibition venue at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts at Fredsgatan 12 in Stockholm with an exhibition entitled Carl Larsson – Friends and Enemies. Focusing on Carl Larsson’s networks and relationships, the exhibition reflects the Swedish art world in the period from 1870 to 1920. In all, about 120 works by Larsson and his contemporaries will be on show.
Nationalmuseum has added a large porcelain lidded urn to its ceramics collection. The urn was designed by Gunnar Nylund, one of the most prominent Scandinavian ceramicists of the 20th century. Although the urn is most definitely a luxury item, it is decorated with images of workers, factories and cityscapes, reflecting the contemporary cult of the machine.
Nationalmuseum has acquired a spectacular miniature by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard. One of the most important women artists in late 18th-century France, she was not previously represented in the museum’s collections. The work is interesting on account of the motif alone, depicting a woman, albeit an amateur, in the role of artist.
Nationalmuseum has acquired three important Flemish and Dutch cabinet paintings from the collection of Count Gustaf Adolf Sparre – a landscape by Gijsbrecht Leytens and two genre scenes in smaller format by David Teniers the Younger and Jacob Toorenvliet. The paintings have gilt frames decorated in Gustavian style, with the two latter works bearing cartouches at the top.
Thanks to a generous donation, 10 photographic portraits by Hans Gedda have been added to the Swedish National Portrait Gallery. With his creative interpretations and unexpected manifestations, Gedda adds another dimension to the subjects portrayed, who include Evert Taube, Hans Alfredson, Tage Danielsson, Nils Poppe, Niklas Ek and Sara Lidman.
Last spring, the Swedish government gave the go-ahead for planning work to start on the renovation of Nationalmuseum. Next year, the collections and museum operations will temporarily vacate the building. Members of the public, both in Sweden and abroad, will still have the opportunity to experience the art thanks to collaborations, touring exhibitions and temporary venues.
Nationalmuseum has added a table with a porphyry mosaic top to its applied art and design collection. The tabletop was produced by Elfdals Porphyrverk around 1860. The table, an important addition to the museum’s collection of 19th-century Swedish furniture, is on display on Level 1 of the museum.
This spring, Nationalmuseum acquired a pair of superb quality nightstands with royal provenance. The nightstands are veneered in mahogany, with blacked lion’s paw feet, gilded North Stars and four winged sphinxes. They are an important addition to the museum’s collection of Swedish furniture from the early 19th century.
Nationalmuseum’s extensive collection of Dutch old masters has been enriched with the addition of a leading work by Jan Lievens. The painting of Saint Paul is dated 1627–1629 and was originally part of the Sparre collection. This is one of Nationalmuseum’s most significant acquisitions of recent years.
Nationalmuseum has acquired an elegant necklace by silversmith and artist Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe. In the mid-20th century, she transformed the way jewellery was made and appreciated through her design language and her choice of materials. Dating from the beginning of the 1950s, the necklace has a brass neck ring with a pendant in various woods and ivory.
