David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
nobleman and portrait painter.
Ehrenstrahl was born in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. In 1652, at twenty-four years of age, at the request of Carl Gustaf Wrangel
Carl Gustaf Wrangel
Carl Gustaf Wrangel was a high-ranking Swedish noble, statesman and military commander in the Thirty Years', Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northern and Scanian Wars....
, he moved to Skokloster Castle
Skokloster Castle
Skokloster Castle is located on Lake Mälaren between Stockholm and Uppsala. It was built in the Baroque style between 1654 and 1676 by the wealthy military commander and count Carl Gustaf Wrangel. The castle was designed by architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder...
, from his art studies in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. Between 1654 and 1661 he studied in Italy and visited the courts of both France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. On his return he became entitled Court painter
Court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre...
. He was raised to the nobility in 1674 and became court indendant in 1690. Mikael Dahl and David von Krafft
David von Krafft
David Krafft, from 1719 David von Krafft was a German-Swedish painter, the nephew and student of David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl and his successor as painter to the Swedish Royal Court....
as well as his daughter Anna Maria
Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl
Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl, as married Wattrang, , was a Swedish painter, the leading female painter in her country. She was a baroque-artist and painted allegorical works, portraits and group portraits in the style of the Baroque.- Biography :...
(born 1666) can be found among his pupils. David Klöcker became courtpainter 1661, married Maria Momma 1663 and nobelized 1674.
The allegoric
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
great hall ceiling fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
, named The Great Deeds of The Swedish Kings, in the Swedish House of Knights
Swedish House of Knights
The Swedish House of Nobility maintains records and acts as an interest group on behalf of the Swedish nobility.-Name:The name means either the corporation of the Swedish nobility or the palace of the nobility....
, made between 1670 and 1675, is considered to be his greatest work. A second version was made in Drottningholm Palace
Drottningholm Palace
The Drottningholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. It is located in Drottningholm. It is built on the island Lovön , and is one of Sweden's Royal Palaces. It was originally built in the late 16th century. It served as a residence of the Swedish royal court for most of...
, the home of the Swedish Royal Family
Swedish Royal Family
The Swedish Royal Family since 1818 consists of a number of persons in the Swedish Royal House of Bernadotte, closely related to the King of Sweden. They are entitled to royal titles and style , and some perform official engagements and ceremonial duties of state...
, in 1695. The Drottningholm fresco, also became the motive of the 1000th and ever largest postage stamp by Czesław Słania, the Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
postage stamp and banknote engraver.
Ehrenstrahl is also known for his proposal, in 1694, that:
- "Art presents riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
s that could not be solved by everyone". He died in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.