EMILIA LÖNBLAD. Playmates.

Canvas glued on panel, 38,5 x 33,5 cm. Frame dimensions 45 x 48 cm. Signed E Lönblad.

The auction's charming picture of three young girls is rendered with confident brushstrokes. Emilia Lönblad gained recognition as a driven portrait painter over the years, and she made her debut at the Paris Salon in 1897. Stylistically, she was close to the direction in open-air painting represented by Hugo Salmson.

During her years in Paris in the 1890s she studied for, among others, Bonnat - but the basics were learned by Emilia Lönblad during summers in Arild where she attended school for Elisabeth Keyser, one of the most talented female painters on the Swedish art scene at this time.

As was the case with Keyser, Lönblad's artistry blossomed over the years abroad. Time in Paris was followed by trips to Provence, Rome, Florence and North Africa.

Over the years, the French softness in the brushwork disappeared, but Lönblad's portraits were painted with empathy and a crowd-pleasing charm. Growing up in a religious home marked Lönblad and she executed many works with religious motifs, including a monumental painting for the Birgittine Order.

Also this direction in her art received great recognition when a small Madonna image was awarded at an international Madonna exhibition in Italy in 1933.