VIKTOR CARLSSON (1884-1965). Attributed to. Ship model "Lovisa Ulrika", probably 1930s.

Height about 78 inches stand, length about 100 cm History of Viktor Carlsson Victor Johan Carlsson was born on January 1, 1884 in Kärrabo, Bergkvara, the youngest of three brothers. Everyone went to sea. In his spare time, he built ship models, but he only became a professional model builder after enlisting in New York in 1914, when he was later hired by Max Williams, owner of a curiosity shop that also traded in ship models.

In 1925 he returned home to Gökalund and in 1931 he began to build ship models for the old Maritime Museum in Stockholm.

During this time, an exhibition with ship models in a scale of 1: 200 was planned, which shows selected Nordic ship types from the Iron Age to the present day. The idea was that the exhibition would be ready for the new Maritime History Museum, which was inaugurated in 1938.

At the museum worked the sea captain and conservator Sam Svensson who sent letters with job descriptions and simplified drawings to Victor who during 1931-1937 built about forty models for the exhibition in scale 1: 200. For the museum, he mainly built models of "historical types": Viking ships, cogs, crawlers, flutes, full riggers, bark ships, etc. from the 1800s and 1900s, as well as some steamship models.

Victor Carlsson became known as one of Sweden's best model builders. Söderåkra Church and Bergkvara Chapel have votive ships built by him. The Swedish Church in London will also have a model built by him. In 1965 he died in Bergkvara, 81 years old.

Over the years, Victor Carlsson became associated with a certain type of model, on a small scale and of a high class. These models are simply called "Gökalundare".