DOI Artikel:
Strengell, Gustaf: The etchings of Count Louis Sparre
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20712#0050
Count Sparre s Etchings
E'- ■ . ' ~
“a court- from an etching by
yard” COUNT LOUIS SPARRE
This fascinating little place, situated
in an idyllic neighbourhood of South
Finland, is a piece of the olden time
such as is nowadays but rarely met
with in our country. Built on the
banks of a small, peacefully-flowing
river, and close to its mouth, Borga
greets the approaching stranger with
something of the familiar grateful
effect of an old song. There is, indeed,
a new town of Borga, with a chess-
board network of streets spreading
over the flat plain ; but of this I am
not speaking now. With its dull,
wearisome rows of houses, it resembles
most of the other provincial towns of
Finland, and like them is entirely
devoid of any historical or artistic
interest. It is quite otherwise with
the old town. The imposing cathe-
dral, standing on the hill, might almost
give one the impression of a more
northerly Bruges. Narrow streets,
clumsily paved with rough stones,
wind in easy curves up the heights.
32
Low houses, built of wood, and coloured red or yellow with
red lead, alternate with little plank-fenced gardens, whence
during early summer purple lilacs waft their sweet smell. The
air is filled with a perfume as of past ages ; decay haunts the
dimly-lighted dwellings, whose little window-panes, gleaming
with metallic hues, look like blind eyes gazing out into dark-
ness. The walls stand crooked; slowly but surely the old
town is crumbling to the ground.
It is true that Count Sparre did not make the actual
discovery of Borga as an artistic property. That excellent
artist, Mr. Edelfelt, whose admirable and rather Barisian style
once made an epoch in our art of painting, used the place
some decades ago as a favourite sketching-ground. Mr. A. W.
Finch also (the brother-in-arms of Henry van de Velde and
his circle), who came from Belgium to settle in Finland,
portrayed the picturesque old town in a series of etchings.
Yet, though treating subjects quite similar to those of the
above-mentioned artists, Count Sparre strikes a thoroughly
original note in his etchings.
“A MANTLE OF SNOW
FROM AN ETCHING BY,
COUNT LOUIS SPARREjJ
E'- ■ . ' ~
“a court- from an etching by
yard” COUNT LOUIS SPARRE
This fascinating little place, situated
in an idyllic neighbourhood of South
Finland, is a piece of the olden time
such as is nowadays but rarely met
with in our country. Built on the
banks of a small, peacefully-flowing
river, and close to its mouth, Borga
greets the approaching stranger with
something of the familiar grateful
effect of an old song. There is, indeed,
a new town of Borga, with a chess-
board network of streets spreading
over the flat plain ; but of this I am
not speaking now. With its dull,
wearisome rows of houses, it resembles
most of the other provincial towns of
Finland, and like them is entirely
devoid of any historical or artistic
interest. It is quite otherwise with
the old town. The imposing cathe-
dral, standing on the hill, might almost
give one the impression of a more
northerly Bruges. Narrow streets,
clumsily paved with rough stones,
wind in easy curves up the heights.
32
Low houses, built of wood, and coloured red or yellow with
red lead, alternate with little plank-fenced gardens, whence
during early summer purple lilacs waft their sweet smell. The
air is filled with a perfume as of past ages ; decay haunts the
dimly-lighted dwellings, whose little window-panes, gleaming
with metallic hues, look like blind eyes gazing out into dark-
ness. The walls stand crooked; slowly but surely the old
town is crumbling to the ground.
It is true that Count Sparre did not make the actual
discovery of Borga as an artistic property. That excellent
artist, Mr. Edelfelt, whose admirable and rather Barisian style
once made an epoch in our art of painting, used the place
some decades ago as a favourite sketching-ground. Mr. A. W.
Finch also (the brother-in-arms of Henry van de Velde and
his circle), who came from Belgium to settle in Finland,
portrayed the picturesque old town in a series of etchings.
Yet, though treating subjects quite similar to those of the
above-mentioned artists, Count Sparre strikes a thoroughly
original note in his etchings.
“A MANTLE OF SNOW
FROM AN ETCHING BY,
COUNT LOUIS SPARREjJ