When seeing a painting in a museum through a certain grid/matrix, I would always miss other aspects. This also occurs in art history with the conceptual grids it applies to its objects of study. I would like to give you an example I came across when I produced a new work for a show in St. Petersburg: 135 Gustaf Cederström’s (1845-1933) Le corps de Charles XII porté par ses officiers à travers la frontière norwégienne 1718 (The Funeral transport of Charles XII) was shown at the Salon in Paris in 1878. For generations of Swedes, this was one of the best-known paintings, showing Swedish officers as pall-bearers bringing their dead King home from the Norwegian frontier in 1718. The picture was awarded a medal and sold in St. Petersburg to the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia, where it was mounted on one of the walls of the Marble Palace. As a reaction to the event, a group of Swedish artists started collecting money to pay Cederström to paint a replica of his own painting to give as a gift to Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. The reason was that it was considered a big scandal in Sweden that a Russian Grand Duke, representing the sworn enemy, owned a picture showing the defeated, dead King of Sweden. Cederström did paint a replica that was larger in scale, lighter in tone, and where some of the officers’ hair colour was changed to blonde – it was a more nationalistic version compared to the original painting. 136 This was, in short, an historical and art-historical narration that was complicit with – and is still present in Sweden – the implication of a political and nationalistic grid, albeit different to its 19th century overtones.
Was the Grand Duke’s purchase of this painting a manifestation of Russian chauvinism? I believe that it was probably one of the reasons. However, when I study the history of the Grand Duke, I find that it was very likely a more complicated matter. The painting was hanging in a room in the Marble Palace that had been specially made for him. He turned the palace into a centre for cultural life in the city and the intellectuals of St. Petersburg gathered in the palace in his famous salons to listen to music and poetry. The Grand Duke himself was a poet who translated Goethe and Schiller into Russian and was a well-known intellectual figure in the city. So the painting could also very well have been installed because of its artistic qualities.
Grand Duke Konstantinovich of Russia was also a closet gay, a well-known customer at the city’s male brothels. A ‘reference book’ on the web tells the story: “Had it not been for the publication of K.R.’s [Konstatinovich of Russia’s] strikingly candid diaries long after his death, the world would have never known that this most prolific of Grand Dukes, the father of nine children, had strong homosexual tendencies. K.R.’s first homosexual experiences occurred in the Imperial Guards.” 137 Could this nationalistic Swedish painting, which I connected so much with a melancholic longing for when Sweden was a Great Power, have been used for gay fantasies in another context? I consider this as I would in applying a grid; however it would work, it would be a projection, for how could I know about Konstantin’s desires? If we then add the historical facts of what occurred later – that the original painting came back to Sweden after the Russian Revolution – at this point it re-contextualises the original painting, turning it into a secondary painting. (Because of the Russian background?) The original back from Russia ended up in the Göteborgs Konstmuseum in Gothenburg, and the replica is still hanging in Nationalmuseum.
;)
;)
135 Made for a group show: Russia: Significant Other, Anna Achmatova Museum, St. Petersburg
136 Lena Holger, “Karl XII:s likfärd: Gustaf Cederströms två målningar med samma motiv”, Kopior Förfalskningar Parafraser Plagiat Pastischer Repliker Original Reproduktioner, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg 1989, pp. 16-19. The first version stayed in Russia until, due to the Revolution, it was brought out of the country. The painting was bought by the antique dealer Martin Molvidson in Stockholm and was exhibited in Sweden for the first time in 1935. Four years later, the businessman Gustaf Werner donated the painting to Göteborgs Konstmuseum.
137 Quotation from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Du...
Åsberg, Stig
Page: 20(a.)
after-image
Page: 5, 5(a.), 26, 32, 34, 40, 48, 49, 55, 56
Akerman, Chantal
Page: 3, 3(a.), 57(a.)
Alberti, Leon Battista
Page: 27
Angelo Giorgio, Cardinal
Page: 19, 19(a.)
Armitage, John
Page: 51(a.)
Art Institute of Chicago
Page: 32
Arvidsson, Kristoffer
Page: 35(a.)
Ashburton, Lord
Page: 19(a.)
Bätschmann, Oskar
Page: 33(a.)
Bal, Mieke
Page: 8(a.)
Barton, Judy (character in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock)
Page: 30
Baudelaire, Charles
Page: 44
beat, the
Page: 44
Beckett, Samuel
Page: 39
Bellini, workshop of Giovanni
Page: 28
Bierstadt, Albert
Page: 17
Bjurström, Per
Page: 19, 19(a.), 33, 57, 57(a.)
Blaugrund, Annette
Page: 17(a.)
Bonaparte, Lucien
Page: 19(a.), 41(a.)
Bosch, Hieronymous
Page: 40
Brealey, John
Page: 19, 19(a.)
British Museum, London
Page: 22, 22(a.)
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York
Page: 45
Bryson, Norman
Page: 2, 2(a.), 8, 8(a.), 27(a.), 44(a.)
Butler, Judith
Page: 48, 48(a.), 49
Calaresu, Melissa
Page: 9(a.)
Calefato, Patrizia
Page: 43, 43(a.)
Cavalli-Björkman, Görel
Page: 19(a.)
Cederström, Gustaf
Page: 46, 46(a.)
Certeau, Michel de
Page: 53
Cézanne, Paul
Page: 39
Church, Fredric Edwin
Page: 17, 17(a.)
Claude Glasses
Page: 5, 12, 18, 51, 54
Claude Lorrain Mirror
Page: 10
Claude Mirror
Page: 5, 10, 11, 18
Claudian
Page: 11, 14, 14(a.), 15, 17, 41, 41(a.), 53, 56
Claudian gaze
Page: 17
Claudian light
Page: 14
Claudian model
Page: 14, 14(a.), 15, 41(a.)
Cohen, Ernst
Page: 8(a.)
Constable, John
Page: 25(a.), 41(a.)
copy
Page: 4, 4(a.), 5, 5(a.), 20, 22, 25, 26, 30(a.), 31, 32, 32(a.), 34, 38, 40, 41, 41(a.), 42, 42(a.), 44, 48, 51, 55, 57
copying, act of -
Page: 31, 51
copyist
Page: 26, 32, 34, 40, 41, 42, 44
Courbet, Gustave
Page: 34(a.)
Crary, Jonathan
Page: 13, 13(a.)
cruising
Page: 8, 35, 35(a.), 44, 44(a.), 49
Dahlbäck, Bengt
Page: 20(a.)
Degas, Edgar
Page: 44
Dercon, Chris
Page: 51(a.)
Düsseldorf School
Page: 15
Dughet, Gaspard
Page: 27
Dunwell, Frances F.
Page: 16(a.), 17(a.)
El Greco
Page: 2
Elster, Madeleine (character in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock)
Page: 30, 31, 34, 38, 44
Fabiani, Bardo
Page: 43(a.)
Fahlcrantz, Carl Johan
Page: 14, 15
Ferguson, John "Scottie" (character in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock)
Page: 30, 31
Ferrier, Maïten de
Page: 32
Field, Cyrus
Page: 17(a.)
framing
Page: 7, 33, 35, 51, 54
Fraser, Andrea
Page: 40(a.)
Fredlund, Björn
Page: 8(a.), 19(a.)
Fried, Michael
Page: 28(a.)
Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg
Page: 8(a.), 19, 19(a.), 46, 46(a.)
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
Page: 24
Gallerie Brunner, Paris
Page: 19(a.)
Gardner, Jack
Page: 29(a.)
gay
Page: 8, 35, 35(a.), 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 48(a.)
gaze
Page: 4, 5(a.), 8, 9, 13, 17, 20, 23, 24, 26, 27(a.), 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 35, 36, 42, 44, 44(a.), 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 54
gender
Page: 30, 43, 48(a.), 49
Georgel, Chantal
Page: 24(a.)
Gilpin, William
Page: 9, 9(a.), 12, 12(a.), 16, 16(a.)
Giori, Cardinale
Page: 22
Goldfarb, Hilliard T.
Page: 28(a.), 29(a.)
Gombrich, Ernst Hans
Page: 25(a.), 48(a.)
Gordon, Douglas
Page: 30(a.)
Grünewald, Matthias
Page: 2
Grammel, Sören
Page: 30(a.)
Granath, Olle
Page: 4(a.)
Grand Tour
Page: 9, 14, 32, 35(a.)
Grate, Pontus
Page: 37(a.), 41(a.)
Gray Mirror
Page: 10
Great Chain Overlook, The
Page: 5
grid
Page: 24, 25, 25(a.), 26, 37, 38, 44, 46, 47, 49
Guerrilla Girls
Page: 40(a.)
Gustaf Adolf VI of Sweden, King
Page: 18
Hansen, Constantin
Page: 8(a.)
Harriss, Joseph A.
Page: 32(a.), 40(a.)
Hedén, Karl-Gustaf
Page: 8(a.), 19, 19(a.)
Herrmann, Bernard
Page: 30(a.)
Hidaka, Ritsuko
Page: 24, 24(a.)
history
Page: 1, 7, 15, 18, 19, 20(a.), 21, 24, 26,32(a.), 35, 41(a.), 44, 46, 47, 48, 55, 56
Hitchcock, Alfred
Page: 30
Hockney, David
Page: 11(a.)
Holger, Lena
Page: 46(a.)
horizon
Page: 25, 27, 35, 38(a.), 41, 52, 53, 54, 56
Hudson River Highlands
Page: 16, 16(a.), 17(a.)
Hudson River School
Page: 17, 17(a.)
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Page: 28, 29(a.)
Isakson, Karl
Page: 39
Kennedy, Randy
Page: 45(a.)
Kitson, Michael
Page: 22(a.)
Købke, Christian
Page: 8(a.)
Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia, Grand Duke
Page: 46, 46(a.)
Kopp, Céline
Page: 42(a.)
Krauss, Rosalind
Page: 25, 25(a.)
Kulick, Don
Page: 44, 44(a.), 49
Kunstverein München, Munich
Page: 30(a.)
landscape, Arcadian -
Page: 9, 35
landscape, cultivated -
Page: 16
landscape, designed -
Page: 10
landscape, Dutch -
Page: 10
landscape, lost -
Page: 16
landscape, national -
Page: 9, 14, 15
landscape, Nordic -
Page: 15
landscape, pastoral -
Page: 21, 34, 35
landscape,pictorial
Page: 14
landscape, Roman -
Page: 11
landscape, Romantic -
Page: 52
landscape, Swedish -
Page: 14, 15
landscape painter
Page: 5, 14, 17, 19(a.)
landscape painting
Page: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 11(a.), 14, 15, 53
Landscapes, Ideal -
Page: 9, 9(a.), 22(a.), 33(a.), 35, 40, 41(a.)
Landscapes, Imperial -
Page: 14, 14(a.)
Langdon, Helen
Page: 11(a.), 33, 33(a.), 57(a.)
Lawler, Louise
Page: 40(a.)
Lefebvre, Henri
Page: 27
Lenbach, Franz von
Page: 30(a.)
Liber Veritatis
Page: 21, 22, 22(a.)
linguistic matrix
Page: 25
Lorrain, Claude
Page: 2, 4, 4(a.), 5, 8, 8(a.), 9, 10, 11, 11(a.), 12, 12(a.), 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 18(a.), 19, 19(a.), 20, 21, 21(a.), 22, 22(a.), 23, 25, 25(a.), 26, 27, 28, 33, 33(a.), 34, 34(a.), 35, 36, 36(a.), 38, 38(a.), 41, 41(a.), 42(a.), 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 57(a.)
Louvre, Paris
Page: 24, 32, 32(a.), 40, 44, 44(a.)
Lyberg, Louise
Page: 32(a.)
Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm
Page: 35(a.)
Maillet, Arnaud
Page: 12(a.)
Malsch, Friedemann
Page: 28(a.)
Manson & Woods, London
Page: 8(a.)
Martin, Elias
Page: 14, 14(a.)
Matisse, Henri
Page: 39
memory
Page: 7, 11, 17(a.), 20, 30(a.), 31, 35(a.), 41, 41(a.), 43, 51
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice
Page: 24, 24(a.), 27, 27(a.), 39, 39(a.), 55, 55(a.)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Page: 17(a.), 24
Metz, Philip
Page: 30(a.)
mimicry
Page: 5, 6, 34, 40, 47, 49, 51
Mitchell, W.J.T.
Page: 11(a.), 14, 14(a.), 28(a.), 38(a.), 48(a.)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Page: 20, 40(a.)
Molvidson, Martin
Page: 46(a.)
Mulvey, Laura
Page: 30, 30(a.), 31
Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica
Page: 41, 41(a.)
museum
Page: 4, 4(a.), 5, 8,18, 19, 20, 20(a.), 23, 24, 24(a.), 25,26, 27, 28,29, 29(a.), 30, 30(a.), 31, 32, 32(a.), 33, 34, 36,38, 40, 40(a.),42, 42(a.), 43, 44, 44(a.), 45, 46, 46(a.), 47,49, 50, 51
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Page: 45, 45(a.)
National Gallery, London
Page: 24, 41(a.)
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Page: 4, 4(a.), 5, 8(a.), 18, 19, 19(a.), 20, 20(a.), 24, 27, 32, 32(a.), 37, 38, 41(a.), 46, 47, 48(a.), 55, 57(a.)
nature
Page: 7, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 24, 33, 34, 39, 43, 47, 48, 51, 57
Newman, Michael
Page: 51, 51(a.), 52, 52(a.)
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans
Page: 8
Nilsson, Håkan
Page: 48, 48(a.)
Nordic Light
Page: 15
Nordqvist, Per
Page: 14
Novak, Kim (actor in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock)
Page: 30
original
Page: 4(a.), 5, 5(a.), 8, 14, 18(a.), 19(a.), 20, 22, 25, 25(a.), 26, 29(a.), 32, 33, 34, 39, 40, 41, 41(a.), 42, 46, 46(a.), 47, 48, 48(a.), 49
painting, historical -
Page: 6, 24, 30, 35, 41(a.)
painting, landscape
Page: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 11(a.), 14, 15, 53
painting, lost -
Page: 26
painting, process of -
Page: 39, 57
Palazzo Riccardi, Florence
Page: 19(a.)
Pehrson, Mathias
Page: 18(a.)
perspective
Page: 11, 18, 27, 27(a.), 33, 44
Persson, Helena
Page: 8(a.)
Petterson, Åke
Page: 18(a.)
Phelan, Peggy
Page: 5, 39, 39(a.)
Phillips, Tony
Page: 27(a.)
pictures journey
Page: 8
Picturesque
Page: 5, 9, 9(a.), 10, 10(a.), 11, 11(a.), 12, 12(a.), 14, 16, 17, 18
Pollock, Jackson
Page: 48(a.)
Pordenone, Bernardino Licinio da
Page: 28(a.)
Poussin, Nicolas
Page: 9, 27, 33, 33(a.), 40(a.), 41(a.)
Prado Museum, Madrid
Page: 41(a.), 53
Röthlisberger, Marcel
Page: 8(a.), 19, 19(a.), 21, 21(a.), 22(a.), 34(a.), 35, 35(a.), 36, 36(a.), 37, 38(a.), 41, 41(a.), 42, 42(a.)
Rørbye, Martinus
Page: 8(a.)
Raphael
Page: 36
Rebekah
Page: 4(a.), 5, 15, 16, 18, 19, 19(a.), 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 25(a.), 26, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 37(a.), 38, 40, 41, 42, 47, 55, 57
recognition
Page: 2, 8, 28, 38, 39, 40
Rembrandt van Rijn
Page: 19(a.)
restorer
Page: 18, 19, 19(a.), 20, 21
Rossholm Lagerlöf, Margaretha
Page: 9(a.), 22(a.), 33, 33(a.), 34, 34(a.), 41(a.)
Rubens, Peter Paul
Page: 41(a.)
Sandberg, Ragnar
Page: 39, 39(a.)
Sandrart, Joachim von
Page: 36, 57
Sarto, Andrea del
Page: 30(a.)
See and Seen
Page: 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 29(a.), 44, 47, 49, 50, 54
seeing, act of -
Page: 27, 43, 49, 54
seeing, moment of
Page: 21, 48, 54
seeing, process of -
Page: 5, 26
seeing, way of -
Page: 7, 9, 14, 18, 39, 51
shepherd
Page: 4(a.), 19(a.), 22, 33, 35, 42
Shiner, Larry
Page: 40(a.)
spectator
Page: 11, 11(a.), 13, 29, 29(a.), 30, 33, 38(a.), 41, 43, 44, 50, 53
Stewart, James (actor in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock))
Page: 30
Stewart Gardner, Isabella
Page: 28, 29, 29(a.), 49
Storrie, Calum
Page: 44, 44(a.)
tourist
Page: 5, 7, 9, 9(a.), 10, 13, 18, 54
translate
Page: 2(a.), 11, 19(a.), 26, 39, 46
translation
Page: 1, 18(a.), 19(a.), 27(a.), 39(a.), 55(a.), 57(a.)
Turner, J.M.W.
Page: 11
US Military Academy at West Point, New York State
Page: 5, 16, 17, 18, 54
vanishing point
Page: 11, 27, 51, 52
Vertigo
Page: 30, 30(a.), 31, 38, 44
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Page: 43
viewer
Page: 2, 4, 5, 7, 13, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 24(a.), 26, 27, 28, 29, 29(a.), 30, 33, 34, 38, 40, 41(a.), 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54
viewing, act of -
Page: 13
viewing, conditions of -
Page: 44
viewing, modes of -
Page: 13
viewing aids / instruments
Page: 10, 13, 48
Warner, Deborah Jean
Page: 10, 10(a.), 12, 12(a.)
Williams, Raymond
Page: 7, 7(a.), 10, 10(a.)
Wittgenstein
Page: 48(a.)
Wood, Marjorie 'Midge' (character in Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock)
Page: 31