ANSHELM SCHULTZBERG. Evening landscape from Baggensstäket.

Oil on panel, signed and dated A. Schultzberg 84

Board 56x40 cm, frame 74x59 cm

PROVENANCE:
Stockholms Auktionsverk, Classic autumn 2018

In the autumn of 1884 Anshelm Schultzberg moved his outdoor studies to Skurusundet. No paintings by Schultzberg from there are previously known, only a sketchbook (Otto G. Carlsund, Anshelm Schultzberg. A Study, 1937, p. 50). The view is taken to the northwest from Östervik towards Lännersta. The island in the fund is Mårtens islet, one of two islands in the Skurus Strait. The rays of the setting sun illuminate the pine crowns and the upper part of the large rock block. The foreground of the painting with its detail of flowers and plants and straws and twigs criss-cross, brings to mind Bruno Liljefors's paintings from the same era.

In 1885 Schultzberg painted “Children in the Garden”, his breakthrough painting, which was exhibited at the Academy's spring exhibition. Among those who saw the canvas were the artists Ernst Josephson, Carl Larsson and Richard Bergh who had recently returned from Paris, the core group of the would-be opponents. They believed that the painting should be rewarded with a royal medal. However, this was not possible because Schultzberg was still in the lower department of the Academy (Antiquity), the indignation over this became a small contribution to all that the opposition had to oppose to the conditions at the Academy.

Skurusundet is a strait in the Stockholm archipelago in Nacka Municipality. The strait runs in a north-south direction between Sickla Island and Ormingelandet and forms the border between Södermanland and Uppland. The strait became an important navigable route from the southern archipelago towards Lake Mälaren when the old fairway through Stubbsund in the Middle Ages was established by the land rise. During the 19th century, the Skurus Strait was noted as a particularly scenic spot with a “scenery reminiscent of Switzerland in its wildness”. Many wanted to build summer villas on the shores of Skurusundet. Artists were attracted by the beauty of the place.