GUSTAF BRUSEWITZ. Interior, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1858.

Image dimensions 30 x 37 cm. Frame dimensions 37 x 44 cm.

Gustaf Henrik Brusewitz (1812—1899) was a versatile and dedicated cultural personality, whose work united art with history. Born in Gothenburg and active there most of his life, he was not only a painter but also an important antiquarian and museum curator — a pioneer in the documentation and preservation of Western Sweden's historical heritage.

As an artist, Brusewitz was educated at the Art Academy in Stockholm and subsequently immersed himself in classical European art tradition through studies in Rome, Paris and Switzerland. His painting moved between historical and religious motifs, often with a strong grounding in the homelands. Among his most famous works are genre pictures and depictions of folk life, but also altarpieces with biblical motifs, such as The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

However, it was in the field of ancient research that Brusewitz made his most lasting efforts. During his time as curator at the Gothenburg Museum, 1865—1891, he transformed a modest collection into an extensive and well-documented historical department. With sketchpad and notebook in hand, he wandered through Bohuslän's landscape and recorded church objects, baptismal fonts and ancient monuments — often with great detail and feeling for the story of the place.

Brusewitz, moreover, was a folk-maker in the truest sense of the word, a man who, despite early hearing loss, communicated through his images, texts and engagements. He was deeply rooted in his homeland but at the same time had an international look and education. His depictions — both in picture and text — are not only artistically valuable, but also constitute an invaluable cultural historical archive.

As an artist and cultural worker, he carried a rare combination of the skill of the hand and the pathos of the heart. In his work he united the visual and the scientific, the spiritual and the earthly — a lifelong work to give shape and voice to the past.