Photography

[Photograph] Jaeger Johannes / [Rydberg, Gustaf]

Photograph of a painting [Qvarn i Skåne]

Ca. 1880. Image area 16,5 x 25 cm. The card board 32 x 46,5 cm. Albumen print mounted to a card board with blind stamped crest with the text "Joh. Jaeger Kongl. Hoffotograf".

A few spots and stains, mainly to the card board.

A photo reproduction by Johannes Jaeger after an original by Gustaf Rydberg who was a painter in the national romantic style. He loved to depict Skåne with its quaint farms, mills and landscapes. He was percieved to be one of the most promising artists in Sweden in his younger years. He accompanied the art interested king Karl XV on his journey to Norway in 1868. Jaeger, a german immigrant, became Sweden´s most famous and successful photographer of the 19th.century, producing portraits, views, panoramas as well as art reproductions. He settled in Stockholm in the early 1860s and became royal photographer in 1865. He also became the first official photographer to Nationalmuseum (The National Museum of Fine Arts). Similar positions as the museum´s first official photographers was held by Roger Fenton at the British Museum and Charles Marville at the Louvre in the 1850s. Reproductions of art work in photography was very popular in the second half of the 19th. century, eventhough it was only possible to make black and white photos. Photography made it possible for the first time to exactly reproduce art and distribute it among a great number of people. Jaeger published a sales catalouge with hundreds of photo reproductions of art works in 1882. These photos have not been valued in the 20th. century. Most have been thrown away, which means that these importatant documents on early photo reproduction of art are scarce today.

Item No: 2796