Carina Fryklund – författare

Flemish Paintings c. 1600 - c. 1800 är den tredje och sista delen av katalogerna som behandlar det holländska och flamländska måleri som finns i Nationalmuseums samling. Katalogen behandlar kända konstnärer som Anthonis van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Brueghel I, Jacob Jordaens, Frans Snyders och Jan Fyt, men även mindre kända konstnärskap. I forskningsprojektet har alla 239 målningar dokumenterats. Undersökningarna som utförts omfattar såväl uppgifter om proveniens, ikonografi och stilistisk analys som materialtekniska undersökningar med hjälp av pigmentanalys, dendrokronologi, röntgen, infraröd reflektografi och ultraviolett ljus. Resultaten av undersökningarna har i vissa fall gett helt ny information och ett antal verk i samlingen har som en följd av detta omattribuerats eller omdaterats. Den vetenskapliga bearbetningen har gjorts av Görel Cavalli-Björkman, Carina Fryklund och Karin Sidén. De har samarbetat med Lena Dahlén och Stefan Ohlsson vid museets målerikonservatorsateljé samt med dendrokronologen Peter Klein i Hamburg.

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was a child prodigy. While he was still in his teens he employed assistants in a workshop that produced numerous paintings. There are two or more versions of many of his compositions. The precise relationship between the different variants is often unclear, the question as to how much was done by the master and how much by the assistants remains unresolved. This study presents an in-depth analysis of two versions of St Jerome with an Angel. The canvases were placed side by side, subjected to exhaustive scrutiny and examined with the aid of the latest scientific techniques. Are they both masterpieces by the great Flemish artist or is one of them a copy?

The Nationalmuseum in Stockholm holds a vast collection of Italian paintings dating from the High Middle Ages to the late Nineteenth century. The present catalogue offers the first results of the ongoing research of the approximately 900 paintings of which very few are previously edited. The paintings are discussed according to their historical provenance in order to give the reader a broader picture of the paintings’ history. The collection reflects not just the tastes and pursuits of the early modern royal patronage but also the policies regarding acquisition in the Nationalmuseum during the first decades of the twentieth century. Ultimately, the catalogue offers a great insight into the reception of Italian art in Sweden during three centuries. Among interesting results, the research team has been able to discover never edited works by, for instance, Federico Barocci and Pietro da Cortona. The only existing version of Caravaggio’s St John the Baptist in the Galleria Corsini in Rome, which is kept in the collection, has been successfully investigated by an Italian team and with a highly interesting attribution as a result.