Carl Olof Larsson

Dir. Thorsten Larin, Stockholm;

Sale, Stockholm, Bukowskis, 27 November 2007, lot 90;

With Jean-Luc Baroni, New York 2009;

Sale, London, Christie's 13 July 2017, lot 126;

Private collection

A. Gauffin, Konstverk och människor, Stockholm, 1915, p. 16, reproduced;

Väbgåvan till Hjalmar Söderbergs 50-årsday, Stockholm, 1919, p.137

G. Nordensvan, Carl Larsson, Stockholm, 1921, Part II, p. 88, reproduced;

Ord och Bild, Stockholm, 1922, p. 229;

C.I.G. Laurin, Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, 1921, IV, p. 67;

R. Hoppe, Katalog over Thorsten Laurins samlung av maleri och skulptur, Stockholm, 1936, no. 131, p. 66;

H. & S. Alfons, Carl Larsson Skildrad av honom själv, Stockholm, 1952, p.176, reproduced;

U. Nergaard, Carl Larsson, Signerat med pensel och penn, Stockholm, 1999, part II, p. 69, no. 800 (reproduced, part I, p. 219);

H.-C. Köster, G. Cavalli-Björkman, The world of Carl Larsson, Iowa City, 1982, p. 45, reproduced

Berlin, Berliner Secession, 1909, no. 932;

Stockholm, Liljevalchs Konsthal, Minnesutställning Carl Larsson, 1920, no. 120;

Hamburg, Lubeck and Berlin, Svenska Konstutställningen, 1926, no. 349;

Stockholm, Liljevalchs Konstal, Minnesutställning Carl Larsson, 1953, no. 397;

New York, Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd: An Exhbition of Master Drawings and Paintings, 2009, no. 24

This alluring and seductive study of Fame is a preparatory drawing for the fresco, of the same subject, located on the ceiling of the foyer of the Stockholm Opera House, executed in 1897 and unveiled to the public in 1898. The drawing belongs to a series of preliminary sketches that Larsson executed for this important commission. The present work includes a dedication, inscribed by the artist, to his friend and patron, Thorsten Laurin (1875-1954); Laurin amassed a large art collection, including many examples by Swedish artists.

Larsson studied at the art academy in Moscow, earing his first medal there for life drawing. He later travelled to France where he became immersed within the Barbizon school and submitted works to the annual exhibitions at the Salon. Larsson returned to Sweden in 1885 and began executing works of art on a much larger scale, in particular large mural commissions. These large scale projects gave the artist more freedom to experiment with colour and style and marked a departure from the smaller scale paintings he produced in France. The ambitious commission for the opera house ceiling is an excellent example of Larsson producing bold and dynamic narratives for grand interiors and the present study, with its daring foreshortening, shows the artist considering the viewpoint of the visitor when entering the opera house.