History painting and sense of history

The purpose of the project is to examine how and why national history began to be seen as an alternative to antiquity and biblical history around the beginning of the 19th century.

During that period Swedish history began to be painted. Artists such as E. Martin, P. Hörberg, G. Hasselgren, F. Westin and J. G. Sandberg increasingly chose national motifs for their history painting.

History painting had very high status in its heyday, but has since come to be seen as uninteresting and aesthetically hopeless.

The study raises questions such as: How did interest develop in national historical themes? When and how did Swedish history become an interesting alternative to antiquity and biblical history? How does the choice of topics correspond to historical research, popularization and publication of manuscripts at the time? What kind of subjects were given, and who chose them? Was this a trend originating from the artists themselves, or from customers of various kinds? How was early national history painting received in the 19th and 20th centuries?

The study will also examine links with other countries such as Germany, Denmark and France in relation to the history of ideas and aesthetics.

Project: 
History painting and sense of history – national subjects in the visual arts c. 1780–1830

Principal investigator: 
Per Widén

Institution:
Nationalmuseum

Grant:
SEK 1 million