Knut Ekwall was a Swedish painter, 3 April 1843 in Säby (Småland

Småland

' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...

 province), Sweden

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....

 – 4 April 1912 in Säby.

Ekwall studied from 1860-1866 at the Academy of Arts 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...

, with emphasis on xylography

Woodcut

Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

 (designing woodcut printing blocks) and drawing.

He became a pupil of the painter Ludwig Knaus

Ludwig Knaus

Ludwig Knaus was a German genre painter of the younger Düsseldorf school. He was born at Wiesbaden and studied from 1845 to 1852 under Sohn and Schadow in Düsseldorf. His early works, like "The Gamblers," in the Düsseldorf Gallery, are in the manner of that school, being dark and heavy in color...

 in Berlin.

In 1870, Ekwall established himself as an artist in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 in Germany and later worked in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

.

His works during this period were primarily for magazine illustrations, and were reproduced as engraving

Engraving

Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...

s.

He returned to Sweden and died there at the age of 69.

Known and/or accepted works

Illustrations of Frithiof's Saga by Esaias Tegnér

Esaias Tegnér

Esaias Tegnér , was a Swedish writer, professor of Greek language, and bishop. He was during the 19th century regarded as the father of modern poetry in Sweden, mainly through the national romantic epos Frithjof's Saga. He has been called Sweden's first modern man...

• Painting: The Fisherman and the Siren
• Painting: The Proposal
• Painting: The Reading Lesson
• Painting: Lost Luck, The Consolation or Away to School
• Engraving: The Fair Dreamer
• Painting: The Emigrants

External links

• "The Proposal"
• "The Emigrants"
• "An den Gewässern von Gudbrandsdalen"
• "Festszene bei der Einweihung des Hermannsdenkmals. Nach der Natur aufgenommen von Knut Ekwall«. In: Die Gartenlaube. Illustriertes Familienblatt, 1875"
• "Efter skörden"
• "The Fisherman and the Siren"
• "Broken Luck"
• "At the Railway Restaurant"