Studio: international art (87.1924)

STOCKHOLM

“HRS. EMMA ZORN.” BY
COUNT LOUIS SPARRE

STOCKHOLM.—The name of the emi-
nent Swedish artist, Count Louis
Sparre, is already known to the readers of
The Studio. They will recollect his etch-
ings of old Borg! contained in Vol. 35,
and the examples of his work in oil land-
scape and portraiture which appeared with
an account of his early history in Vol. 43.
With those early examples it is interesting
to compare the mature and masterful work
he now produces, especially in his recent
portraits, but also in his landscapes which
are handled in a direct,spontaneous manner,
conveying a strong personal impression of
the varying subjects represented. Two
views of the port of Stockholm give a vivid
appreciation of the Venice of the North,
and they are in strong artistic contrast with
two views of Visby, the old Hanseatic port
on the Island of Gotland, with its fine walls
reminiscent of the Seven Towers of Stam-
boul. There is as much truth in the lively
treatment of the active port of Stockholm
as there is poetry and repose in the old
world of Visby. The artist has done
landscape work in regions as far apart as
Finland and Biskra, in the Sahara. a
But Count Sparre's serious work is
devoted to portrait painting. It is as a
portrait painter that he has now been
called to London to paint the striking
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features of the Finnish Minister to the
Court of St. James. That M. Donner can
safely count upon a characteristic likeness
can be seen by those acquainted with the
subjects of Count Sparre’s recent portraits,
which include the British and French
Ministers to Sweden. Among the works of
art selected for the adornment of the in-
terior of the magnificent new Town Hall
of Stockholm is the artist's interesting
portrait of the last chairman of the now
extinct Cellarmen’s Guild which has
existed from 1606 to 1922. Nothing could
be more businesslike than this powerful
man in his blue cotton shirt-sleeves and
black leather apron. While strong manly
types are doubtless more interesting to
Count Sparre to paint than the portraits of
women, he is equally able to depict the
subtle charm of the so-called weaker sex,
and the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh will
shortly exhibit his last portrait which
represents the widow of Anders Zorn. It
is a remarkably fine and dignified picture
of an elderly lady which is sure to be very
highly appreciated in the United States,
where so many people mourn with her the
loss of the greatest modern Swedish
painter. Patrick Ramsay.

u THE CHAIRMAN OF THE

cellarmen's guild "

BY COUNT LOUIS SPARRE