3. AXEL FREDRIK CEDERHOLM (1780-1828). Probably a motif from Haga with Gustav III's “cascade” in the foreground.

Signed and dated A F Cederholm f: 1806. Gouache on paper, 37.5 x 50.5 cm.

LOCATION: Gusums herrgård, Östergötland
Christopher O'Regan Collection

Christopher tells us:
I can occasionally flatter myself to be something of an art detective, and have managed to identify and correctly attribute a hitherto unknown Hilleström painting, as well as to establish that another painting by Hilleström's hand, depicting Gustaf III and the soldier Gren, is actually a scene depicting a real event during the war against Russia in 1789.
Even in the case of Axel Fredrik Cederholm's motif, which is now being sold, and which I called into auction under the title “Hunting scene along the country road”, the detective vein was awakened in me. The gouache is dated 1806, and on a look in the archives of Cederholm's production I noticed that in the early years of the 19th century he participated in the exhibitions of the Academy of Fine Arts and showed several views of Hagaparken and its buildings, such as in 1805 when he depicted Eco- and Cupid and the Psyche Temples. Anyone who knows Haga Park and calls to mind the curved path around the bay at Gustaf III's pavilion, knows that right there is a railing that runs along a hollow into the rock, which can still be seen today under the nickname Haga cave, and is the visible remains of Gustaf III's wonderful project to build a waterfall right there. To this day it is unclear whether and how far the plans for the waterfall progressed; when Jonas Carl Linnerhielm described Haga in 1796, he observed that “opposite the place where the road splits to lead to Nya Haga, or the castle that now adorns the former Brahelund field, a Cascade was dedicated. The water would be pushed upside-down through the rock, and in case of breakage, thrust upon the rocks. But this precious work could not be completed, and now the place is cleared only by the hollow or cave seen bursting out at the foot of the mountain, and over the standing water looms a deep darkness.” However, as early as the following year, work resumed, and Associate Professor of Art Sciences, Christian Laine, wrote in his work on Haga that it cannot be “excluded that Gustaf III's water supply projects in reality advanced considerably further even above ground than has hitherto been assumed”. Perhaps Cederholm's painting is the missing link that shows that Gustaf III's plans were indeed realized.