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This article was downloaded by: [University of Windsor] On: 10 November 2014, At: 17:49 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/skon20 The Tessin Collection of Architectural Drawings during the Eighteenth Century (1728-1772) Merit Laine Published online: 05 Nov 2010. To cite this article: Merit Laine (2003) The Tessin Collection of Architectural Drawings during the Eighteenth Century (1728-1772), Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History, 72:1-2, 91-102, DOI: 10.1080/00233600310001920 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00233600310001920 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/ terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: The Tessin Collection of Architectural Drawings during the Eighteenth Century (1728-1772)

This article was downloaded by: [University of Windsor]On: 10 November 2014, At: 17:49Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of ArtHistoryPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/skon20

The Tessin Collection of ArchitecturalDrawings during the EighteenthCentury (1728-1772)Merit LainePublished online: 05 Nov 2010.

To cite this article: Merit Laine (2003) The Tessin Collection of Architectural Drawings during theEighteenth Century (1728-1772), Konsthistorisk tidskrift/Journal of Art History, 72:1-2, 91-102,DOI: 10.1080/00233600310001920

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00233600310001920

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms& Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: The Tessin Collection of Architectural Drawings during the Eighteenth Century (1728-1772)

© Taylor & Francis 2003. ISSN 0023-3609 KONSTHISTOR ISK TIDSKR IFT 2003, VOL 72, NO 1–2

architectural drawings le by Nicodemus Tessin was inherited by his son Carl Gustaf, who sold his collection of master and architectural drawings to King Adolph Frederick in the early s. In , four years aer Adolph Frederick’s death, the drawings were bought by the state, on the ini-tiative of his son, King Gustav III.

e history of the drawings in the time between the death of Nicodemus Tessin the younger and the state acquisition can be re-garded as both an epilogue and a prologue. It is an epilogue in the sense that in many ways, the collection still functioned as Nicodemus Tessin the younger had intended, and that it was continually kept up to date through new ad-ditions. At the same time, however, the collec-tion, as well as written documents concerning Tessin’s life, became increasingly important as art historical sources, and more especially, as a source of knowledge about Tessin himself. e eighteenth century is thus the period when the collection and related material was beginning to be seen and used as we see and use it today.

Several documents concerning the drawings date from this period. e earliest is a detailed catalogue written by Carl Gustaf Tessin, ca , which includes estimates of the value of the individual sheets, or in some cases, groups of sheets. ere is also a catalogue that he wrote in or shortly aerwards, but this is much briefer than the earlier one, and does not contain any estimates. e next listing of

the collection can be found in the inventory of Adolph Frederick’s estate, drawn up in . Two catalogues of the manuscripts and draw-ings kept at Carl Gustaf Tessin’s manor house Åkerö, written by his nephew and heir Fredrik Sparre, and dating from the s and the first years of the century respectively, indicate the material that was then still in the hands of Nicodemus Tessin the younger’s descendants. In addition to these catalogues and inventories, there are several mentions of the collection, and individual drawings and documents, in vari-ous letters, in Carl Gustaf Tessin’s and Fredrik Sparre’s diaries, and in various lists, such as those Carl Gustaf made of his acquisitions in Paris -.

Carl Gustaf Tessin was the most important collector and arbiter of taste in -century Sweden (Fig. ). Since his personal interest and collecting activities were mainly focussed on the pictorial arts, it is easy to overlook the role of the architectural drawings within the struc-ture of collections that he built for himself from the late s and during the following decades. Yet there is no doubt that they were important, and that he valued them highly.

Carl Gustaf Tessin did not only buy master drawings, but also added to the collection of architectural drawings. During his stay in Paris - he acquired, among other things, plans, elevations and sections of private houses, and drawings of various types of public buildings. An important acquisition was the

DOI: 10.1080/00233600310001920

The Tessin Collection of Architectural Drawings during the Eighteenth Century (1728-1772)

Merit Laine

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volumes of theatrical drawings that had be-longed to the Prince de Carignan, which were bought by Carl Gustaf in . In the catalogue of he also mentions the collection of Mon-sieur Hermans, consisting of sheets, which, he states, he had not yet had time arrange, but which among other things contained architec-tural drawings of various kinds.

Carl Gustaf Tessin also bought books and en-gravings, clearly with the intention of keeping his father’s collection up to date and useful for

himself and others. e lists of things he sent home from Paris mention chinoiseries designed by Boucher, architectural details by Oppenord, etc. However, he also acquired older material, which had mainly a historical value.

Tessin formed the plan to sell his collection of drawings in , and he writes in a letter to his wife, »I have offered them to the Prince. On what conditions? at he gives me a thousand écus each year, until Åkerö is built and deco-rated.«

Fig. 1. Jaques-André-Joseph Aved. Portrait of Carl Gustaf Tessin 1740. Oil on canvas 149 x 116 cm. Natio-nalmuseum, Stock-holm, NM 5535.

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e story of Tessin’s sale of his collections to various members of the Royal Family is well known, but contemporary information about the sale of the drawings to Adolph Frederick is comparatively scarce. e latter’s private ac-counts have only survived in fragments, and as far as I know, there are no documents from the actual transaction in existence today (Fig. ).

e sale of the drawings did not include all the sheets and other material pertaining to the work of Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and the

Younger. Some drawings were kept back, as well as the volumes of travel notes, and other written material concerning Tessin the Young-er’s work.

Fredrik Sparre’s catalogues of the archives at Åkerö are very detailed, and allow us to identify several documents and drawings now preserved at the National Archives in Stockholm and other Swedish public collec-tions. Sparre mentions office accounts from the Royal Works, the correspondence between

Fig. 2. Antoine Pesne Portrait of Adolph Frederick 1743. Oil on canvas, 145 x 114 cm. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Grh 1366.

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but by it had been placed in the Royal Li-brary, then housed in the Royal Palace, in the rooms designed by Carl Johan Cronstedt.

In his diary, Carl Gustaf Tessin states that the King’s collection of drawings (Adolph Freder-ick had by the become king) was considerable. e wording suggests that this collection was not identical with the one that he had bought from Tessin, but also contained other drawings. A comparison between the Tessin catalogue of ca and the inventory of Adolph Frederick’s estate confirms this impression. In the inven-tory the sheets are listed and valued in groups, not individually as in Tessin’s catalogue. e titles given to these groups are however help-ful. For the greatest part, they correspond to the headings in the catalogue of ca , and thus show that the general organization of the collection had been retained, one which was presumably based on the arrangement of the collection at the time of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger’s death.

A comparison between the estimates of each group in the Tessin catalogue, and the estimates in the inventory, indicates that the changes within some groups were consider-able. ere are hardly any entries where the estimates are the same, and generally, they tend to be lower in the inventory. Probably this does not indicate that the number of drawings in the lot had diminished, but rather that Carl Gustaf Tessin based his estimates on his knowledge of the international market, while the inventory was based on estimates of what the drawings might fetch at a sale in Sweden.

Some lots however, are valued more than twice as highly in the inventory as in the cata-logue. is would indicate that substantial ad-ditions had been made by Carl Gustaf Tessin and Adolph Frederick. Among these are lots that comprise gardens and country mansions

Cronström and Tessin, the travel journals, and many other documents. As far as the material on Nicodemus Tessin the Younger himself is concerned, the sale to Adolph Frederick marks the separation of the drawings from the writ-ten sources. For example, the great plan for the Royal Palace and its surroundings entered the collection of Adolph Frederick, but Carl Gustaf kept the explanatory memorandum written by his father. e same goes for the Louvre project, the Apollo Pavilion at Versailles, and some other important projects.

Among the drawings that Carl Gustaf re-tained, one of the most interesting entries in Sparre’s catalogue is surely drawings of pri-vate mansions, executed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and the Younger. A group of drawings and notes concerning mainly Italian Churches is also mentioned, as well as sheets of draw-ings for Drottningholm, and a few detailed drawings of Versailles and other Royal resi-dences in France. ere are also some draw-ings executed by Adolph Frederick, presumably a gi from the Royal draughtsman himself. According to the traditional evaluation of gis, objects created by a prince and then given away by him had an extremely high status, and these drawings thus indicate the favour Tessin was shown by Adolph Frederick and Louisa Ulrica during their early years in Sweden.

Adolph Frederick seems to have accepted Carl Gustaf ’s offer to buy the drawings soon aer it was made. Fredrik Sparre states that the sum involved was , écus, to be paid dur-ing a period of ten years – terms that are similar to those stated by Tessin in the letter to his wife. e sale did not include the Carignan collec-tion, parts of which Tessin had already given to Adolph Frederick as a Christmas gi. We do not know where Adolph Frederick first kept the collection, which comprised large portfolios,

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and the drawings Carl Gustaf Tessin bought in Paris (mentioned above) should also be among the ones added here.

e headings also help us to get an idea of what Adolph Frederick had added. Both the inventory and the catalogue contain headings referring to royal and princely buildings and gardens in Sweden and abroad. However, the inventory adds two new headings, Maisons Royales et Ducales, and Jardins, which are al-ready covered by the titles in the catalogue of Carl Gustaf. ese headings are also missing from the catalogue of . A comparison of the estimates of other groups indicates that the drawings in these lots would amount to about a hundred, at a very rough estimate. I would suggest that these, at least, represent drawings added by Adolph Frederick, who was greatly interested in architecture, and an active ama-teur architect. It is as yet impossible to identify more than one or two of these drawings among the ones at present in the Nationalmuseum, but a handsome plan for the garden at Schloss Eutin, Adolph Frederick’s residence before he was elected heir to the Swedish throne in , is surely one of them (Fig. ). It was executed before his father Christian August’s death in , thus indicating that inherited architec-tural drawings were among the things Adolph Frederick brought to Sweden. He may also have acquired drawings prior to his departure for Sweden, for instance during his travels in Germany, Holland and France in the s. It is also theoretically possible that some of the drawings he brought with him are executed by Nicodemus Tessin the younger. Tessin visited Gottorf on his way to Rome in , and made a sketch for a new garden there in his diary. In , he went there again, bringing drawings for the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who was the brother of the Swedish Dowager Queen Hed-

vig Eleonora. It has been suggested that these were for the garden at Gottorf, which in turn inspired the one at Schloss Eutin.

Hedvig Sophia, the sister of Charles XII, married the next duke, Frederick IV, whose younger brother was Adolph Frederick’s father. Given these multiple connections between the Swedish Royal Family and the House of Hol-stein-Gottorp, and knowing that architectural drawings were an appreciated gi between the ruling families of Europe, it is not unreasonable to assume that drawings by Tessin may have found their way to Gottorf on several occa-sions.

e inventory shows other evidence of ar-chitectural drawings being used as gis. Five bound volumes of Russian country houses, as well as a large number of drawings showing Russian costumes and customs, were surely given to Adolph Frederick by his Russian rela-tives, either the Empress Elizabeth or Catherine the Great, who was his niece. We know that Adolph Frederick sent architectural drawings as gis on several occasions, as did Louisa Ulrica. Such drawings would mainly be of their own architectural enterprises, but older drawings or engravings, not least of buildings by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, were also highly desirable.

e use of the drawings as gis could explain why some groups mentioned in Carl Gustaf Tessin’s catalogue ca are missing from the inventory. For instance, a small lot of Chi-nese drawings may have been used to furnish the Chinese palace at Drottningholm, begun in , or entered the Queen’s library, which contained Chinese manuscripts. What individ-ual drawings Carl Gustaf or Adolph Frederick might have given away, is as yet impossible to tell. We should also remember, that both Carl Gustaf Tessin and the Royal couple used their

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Fig. 3. Johann Christian Lewon Plan of the Schloss and Gardens at Eutin Ca 1725. Pen and ink, wash and watercolour on paper, 90 x 48 cm. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM H THC 350.

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seem to have been part of the original Tessin collection, but a few sheets from there may nevertheless have been included. However, the bulk of the Tessin collection was bought by the state, for , daler copper mint, on the di-rect order of Gustav III. (Fig. ). e drawings were still kept in the Royal Library, and Fredrik Sparre was appointed keeper of the collection. From entries in his diary, we learn that during the following year, he spent much of his spare time putting it in order.

During the period I have briefly outlined, the collection of architectural drawings served several purposes, some of which were present already when Nicodemus Tessin the younger

collections for bartering, and some sheets may have disappeared in exchange for others.

A most surprising aspect of the inventory is that the Carignan collection is missing. e most probable explanation is that Adolph Fred-erick in his turn had given it away to his child-ren. is hypthesis is strengthened by the fact that seven of the volumes have been part of the library at Rosersberg, the county seat of Adolph Fredericks second son, Karl (later Karl XIII).

At the sale of Adolph Frederick’s private property, there were several lots of drawings. A few of them, mainly those containing plans of a military character, were bought by private individuals. e drawings in these lots do not

Fig. 4. Alexander Roslin Gustav III and His Brothers 1771. Oil on canvas, 162 x 203 cm. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM 1010.

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brought it together. Even though it changed from private, to royal, to public ownership, its practical and symbolical functions remained surprisingly similar. e most important expla-nation is, that it was never really regarded as a private affair, but from the time of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger onwards, was considered as a national asset, both practically and sym-bolically. e importance of good models in the forming of a good literary, artistic or archi-tectural style is constantly stressed during the eighteenth century. ese discussions on taste have a strong patriotic flavour, since Swedish excellence in these fields, measured accord-ing to international and ultimately classicist standards, was considered a matter of national importance. In his writings, Carl Gustaf Tessin underlines the importance of good, accessible collections in this connection, and though such collections seem to have been considered main-ly the responsibility of the prince, they could also become a concern for civilized and wealthy gentlemen. It is clear that Tessin saw his own collections in this light, and Adolph Frederick and Louisa Ulrica shared this attitude. e ar-chitectural drawings thus did not form a closed collection, but was available to students and ar-chitects, and also, one may suppose, to patrons who wanted inspiration for houses or gardens. Indeed, these people would in many cases have been the friends or protégés of the Tessins or the Royal Family.

is availability of private or royal collec-tions was of course not unusual, but rather a part of the role of patron of the arts, a role that both Tessin and Adolph Frederick were anxious to fulfil.

at the drawings, both the master draw-ings and the architectural ones, actually were of importance for the training of artists and architects is further indicated by the fact that

aer the state had acquired them, the Royal Academy of Arts petitioned that they be trans-ferred from the Royal Library to the Academy, where they would be more readily accessible to the students. is request was refused by the King.

As I have suggested, the drawings were also, and increasingly so, being regarded as histori-cal documents and an art historical source.

From the start, one can distinguish between two distinct historical functions, the collection in its entirety as a source for general art history, one the one hand, and the drawings and manu-scripts of Tessin himself as a source for art historical writing on his own work and career, on the other. e collection is also connected to and important for the birth of Swedish art his-tory, which emerged during this period.

e first scholarly work on art history written in Sweden seems to be Jonas Malmborg’s dis-sertation De Pictura, which appeared in – a highly unusual subject for an academic disser-tation at that time. In spite of the title, the au-thor also deals with architecture. Malmborg is extremely conventional, until he comes to the history of Swedish -century art, where he breaks new ground. e first real blossoming of the Swedish Arts, he states, occurred under the Caroline kings Charles XI, and Charles XII, and the greatest artists were Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and the painter David Klöcker Eh-renstrahl. At this point, the dissertation ceases to be historical, and turns into a description of the contemporary Swedish art scene. It is hard-ly surprising that the superintendent then in of-fice should be acclaimed as the greatest Swedish architect, or that the reigning King should be hailed as the greatest Swedish patron of the arts. is does not necessarily mean, of course, that Malmborg was not genuinely of that opinion. However that may have been, Malmborg’s dis-

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sertation shows that ten years before his death, Nicodemus Tessin the Younger was established in the place in Swedish art history that he has held ever since.

e most important writer on the arts dur-ing the following period was Tessin’s son and successor as superintendent, Carl Gustaf Tessin. His writings are scattered, but they are extremely enlightening. Among other things, they indicate how the aristocratic elite reinter-preted the absolutist architecture of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger, so that it would be mean-ingful in a new political context where the king had practically no power at all. Otherwise, Carl Gustaf did not write much on architecture, but it is clear that he had a great aesthetic admi-ration for his father’s work. It is also clear, that as far as architecture is concerned, he is more of a critic than a historian, and he is much less sympathetic towards the historical value of an-cient buildings than he is towards, for example, older drawings that he does not find aestheti-cally pleasing. When he praises the perfection of his father’s house, there is no indication that this is an achievement of a past era, but rather one that is eternally valid. He was also im-patient with contemporary efforts that were not up this standard, and he complained about the embarrassing ruins they would make, com-pared to the noble remains of Roman antiquity. Such opinions, based on rules that are assumed to be eternally valid, indicate that Carl Gustaf Tessin inherited and held on to his father’s clas-sicist attitude towards architecture.

Aer Nicodemus’ death, all materials per-taining to his career became important histori-cal sources. When Carl Gustaf Tessin carefully preserved the original documents that his father had le, and also copied some of them in his di-ary, it is hard to distinguish the pious son from the zealous historian, and I do not think that

he himself would have regarded the distinction as relevant. e position of Fredrik Sparre, a grandson of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger on his mother’s side, was similar, and his cata-logue shows that he was very well aware of the historical value of the manuscripts. Aer the entry concerning the Tessin – Cronström cor-respondence, he notes that these letters could one day be a most valuable source for Swedish art history, while the letters from Törnquist’s travels are mentioned as extremely interesting to anyone who loves and cherishes the arts.

e next comprehensive survey of the arts in Sweden, aer that by Malmborg in , was written by Carl Reinhold Berch in . e author was a protégé of Carl Gustaf Tessin’s, and responsible for parts of the Royal collec-tions. His attitude toward the older Swedish architectural tradition is much more apprecia-tive than Carl Gustaf ’s, and indeed Berch was a pioneer in the re-evaluation of Swedish me-dieval and renaissance art. Nicodemus Tessin the Younger however, keeps his place as the first great Swedish architect. Berch was a seri-ous scholar, and we may suppose that aer Carl Gustaf himself, he was one of the first to use the Tessin collection of drawings as an art histori-cal source, and he would also realize the impor-tance of the letters and other documents.

Towards the end of the th century, others were also taking an interest in these written sources. Carl Christopher Gjörwell, one of the most well known Swedish writers during the later part of the eighteenth century, had Sparre’s catalogue of the manuscripts at Åkerö copied, and notes that it is a most important source for Swedish history, and for the biographies of the Tessin family.

e collection was also used as a source for general art history. In his diary, Tessin mentions that somebody ought to write a ca-

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talogue raissonnée of fetes, and adds that he himself would be a suitable person, since he has owned much printed matter on the subject, and still has much material among his father’s papers. Tessin clearly regards these great occasions with their elaborate decorations as something belonging to the past. Today only fools are impressed, he writes, the people are no longer taken in, other rulers take no notice, and a wise prince can think of thousands of better ways to spend his money. e proposed catalogue would thus not be a reference book for contemporary use, but, as he says, a source for the history of taste and the arts – an art historical book. is seems to be the first occa-sion on which Nicodemus Tessin the Younger’s collection was explicitly regarded as a source for general art history, and also the first time that a part of it was declared to be irrelevant to the present. In his diary, Carl Gustaf Tessin also says, that aer selling his collection, he of-fered to write »a historical description«, that is, a scholarly catalogue, on the whole collection of drawings. ere is no evidence that he ever carried out these plans, but his self-esteem as a connoisseur and historian of the arts in Swe-den is confirmed in a letter, written to Fredrik Sparre during Sparre’s stay in Paris. Le Bas had asked Sparre for information on the arts in Sweden, and Tessin, to whom this request had been forwarded, affirms that he himself is the only person who could write such a survey, and also, that he ought to be mentioned in it, because of his love for and knowledge about the arts. e wording of the letter indicates that he connects his own knowledge with the collec-tions he had owned.

In Carl Gustaf Tessin complained that the collection, which, as we remember, now be-longed to the King, was not kept in good order, and had suffered from neglect. He adds, that

it had been brought together with great care by himself and his father, and he doubts that a bet-ter one could be found. is entry is based on second-hand information, so we do not know if there was any real cause for the complaint. However, his comment shows that Carl Gustaf still had, so to speak, strong personal feelings about the collection, and that he regarded it as connected to himself and his father, even though it was no longer in his possession. In the above-mentioned letter to his wife about the intended sale, Carl Gustaf emphasizes that he does not want the collection to be sold outside Sweden, and he obviously did not even contem-plate breaking it up and selling it in individual lots. His wish to keep the collection together, and tendency to think of it in terms of himself and his father, indicates that Tessin shared the, at the time, not uncommon idea, that great col-lections could be a sort of memorial to those who had brought them together. To ensure future glory on this earth was a concern both for Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and his son, and, one may suppose, for Nicodemus Tessin the Elder as well. In this context, the collec-tion of drawings, engravings, and books of Nicodemus Tessin the Younger may be seen as a complement to the buildings he designed, and demonstrate that he was not only an extremely capable architect, but also a man of learning and taste. When we admire, study and discuss the Tessin buildings and collections today, we are in fact responding to the deliberate inten-tions of grandfather, father and son, and thus become active participants in their endeavour to keep the memory of their achievements alive for future generations.

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Endnotes . By the term architectural drawings, I also refer to the

drawings to do with gardens, fetes, temporary decora-tions, theatre, technical matters, etc.

. Carl Gustaf Tessin’s catalogues of ca and ca are in the Archives of the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and the inventory of Adolph Frederick’s estate is in the Na-tional Archives, Stockholm, Kungliga och furstliga per-soners arkiv, vols K , . e catalogues of the archives at Åkerö are in the Royal Library, Stockholm; the earli-est (Catalog på Handskrier, Handlingar, Ritningar … på Åkerö, Ms U ) was written in the s, and does not list the drawings, only the manuscripts. e main text is written by Fredrik Sparre, but some fragments of a catalogue by Carl Gustaf Tessin are bound in the same volume. e later catalogue, written in the early years of the nineteenth century, is incomplete, but the general disposition indicates that all the material pertaining to Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and the Younger, then still at Åkerö, is listed in the surviving volume (Catalogues des manuscrits … Ms U ).

. Carl Gustaf Tessin, Åkerödagboken, / , Royal Library Ms L : ; Per Bjurström: Drawings in Swed-ish Public Collections. French Drawings Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, , p. xxi.

. Generalförteckning på alla de saker som äro öfwersända till Stockholm sedan min afresa , Royal Library, Stockholm, Ms S .

. »Je les ai proposé au Prince: A quelle condition? Qu’il donne mille ecus par an, jusqu’a ce qu’Åkerö soit bati et achevé« Carl Gustaf Tessin to Ulrika Lovisa Sparre, / , National Archives, Stockholm, Ericsbergsarkivet, Ulrika Lovisa Tessins samling vol. .

. See for instance Walfrid Holst: »Hur Carl Gustaf Tessin nödgades börja avyttra sina konstsamlingar«, National-musei årsbok, N.S , Stockholm , pp. -, and Merit Laine »En Minerva för vår Nord« Lovisa Ulrika som samlare, uppdragsgivare och byggherre, Uppsala , pp.f, , , and the sources and literature quoted there.

. Royal Library, Ms U , fol. , , .

. A letter from Tessin to Anton Maria Zanetti, dated in October , contains what seems to be the first surviving mention of the collection as being sold. See Per Bjurström, Drawings in Swedish Public Collections. Italian Drawings. Venice, Brescia, Parma, Milan, Genoa, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, , p. xx.

. Carl Gustaf Tessin, Åkerödagboken, / , Royal Library, Ms L : . Uppsala University Library Ms U : eatre de France LVI. e gi probably comprised volumes, of which are now at the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. I am grateful to Per Bjurström for his infor-mation about the Carignan collection.

. Per Gustaf Floding: Tal om de Frie Konsters Anseende och Beröm… Speech given at the Royal Academy of Arts

in Stockholm on / . e Archives of the Royal Academy of Arts, Floding.

. See Schering Rosenhane the younger: Kort utkast til Konung Adolph Fredrichs och dess Gemåls lefvernes-be-skrifning i anledning Af de öfver Dem slagne Skåde Pen-ningar, Stockholm , p. , Laine, , pp. ff.

. Gisela ietje: Der Eutiner Schlossgarten. Gestalt, Ge-schichte und Bedetung im Wandel der Jahrhunderte, Neumünster , pp. ff

. Laine, , p .

. volumes of the Carignan collection now belong to the Nationalmuseum, four are at the Royal Library, and a collection of loose sheets at the Royal Academy of Arts, Stockholm, probably correspond to yet another one.

. Fredrik Sparre notes in his diary that the King has decided that »achat seroit fait de toute la Collection de Dessins originaux de toutes les écoles, et en touts genre, qui se trouve dans l’inventaire du feu Roi, non encore vendu.« e Diary of Fredrik Sparre, / , / . e National Archives, Stockholm, Ericsbergsarkivet, Fredrik Sparres samling, vol. : -.

. Laine , p f, f.

. e literature on the history of collecting and museums has become extensive during the recent decades. See for instance articles in e Genesis of the Art Museum in the Eighteenth Century, Nationalmusei skriserie n.s. , Stockholm , edited by Per Bjurström; articles in e Origins of Museums: e Cabinet of Curiosities in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Europe, edited by O. Impey and A. MacGregor, Oxford , and Journal of the History of Collections, Oxford -.

. Arvid Baeckström: »Uppkomsten av Konstakademiens bibliotek och gravyrsamling«, Meddelanden från Konstakademien , Stockholm , p. .

. Cf Ragnar Josephson, Om den svenska smaken. Konst-kritik och konstteori från barock till romantik, red Hugo Palmsköld, Lund , s. ff.

. His most valuable comments are in his diaries, known as Åkerödagboken, comprising over folio volumes (Royal Library, Stockholm, Ms L : ), and in his cor-respondence with the Crown Prince, En Gammal Mans Bref Til En Ung Prints, I-II, Stockholm , which was also published in French.

. See Laine , , and ibid: »De kungliga slotten som nationella byggnader under frihetstiden«, Nationalism och nationell identitet i -talets Sverige, Opuscula Historica Upsaliensia , Uppsala , pp. -.

. Per Bjurström, »Carl Gustaf Tessin as a collector of drawings«, Contributions to the history and theory of art, Figura N.S. Uppsala , spec. pp. f.

. Carl Gustaf Tessin, Åkerödagboken / , KB Ms L : s. .

. Royal Library, Stockholm, Ms U , fol. .

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. »Om konsterne i Sverige«, published in Allmänna Tidn-ingar , cf. Josephson , p. ff.

. Gjörwell’s copy is also in the Royal Library, Stockholm, Ms , and can be dated to .

. Carl Gustaf Tessin, Åkerödagboken, / , Royal Library Ms L : p. ff.

. Carl Gustaf Tessin to Fredrik Sparre, / , National Archives, Ericsbergsarkivet, Fredrik Sparres samling vol. .

. Carl Gustaf Tessin, Åkerödagboken, / , Royal Library Ms L : p. .

. Laine , , .

Merit Laine Nationalmuseum Box StockholmE-mail: [email protected]

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