Carl Larsson

Private Collection (acquired at the 1905 Venice exhibition)
Private Collection, USA
Private Collection, Portugal
Purchased by the present owner in Stockholm in 1996

Venice, VI Esposizione Internazionale D'Arte, 1905, no. 3
New York, The American Art Galleries & Chicago, The Art Institute, Exhibition of Contemporary Scandinavian Art, 1912-13, no. 13

Ulwa Neegaard, Carl Larsson, Signerat med pensel och penna, Stockholm, 1999, vol. I, p. 319, illustrated; vol. II, p. 94, no. 1097, catalogued

The following condition report has been prepared by Jane McAusland FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper: Support This large watercolour with bodycolour is on a large sheet of wove paper which is hinged at the top into a mount. There is slight discolouration to the sheet and a light mount mark at the edges and both right-hand corners have been repaired. Otherwise the condition of the paper is good. Medium A little fading has taken place in the more delicate tints and there is some surface loss to the heavier bodycolour pigments, particularly in the trees at the top and the two chimney pots. There is also some surface loss to the shrub in the left foreground. Ultra-violet light showed up scattered retouching and also retouching near the repaired corners. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present work is one of a small number of watercolours depicting the front of Lilla Hyttnäs, the Larsson's country house at Sundborn, in winter. Set on a sunny winter's day, the building's roofs are laden down with snow. A sledge and a selection of skis have been left before the front door, and just peeking out of the porch is four-year-old Esbjörn, the Larsson's youngest son, wrapped up against the cold in a red hat and coat.

The majority of Larsson's depictions of family life in Sundborn feature the cottage's interior. But as Lilla Hyttnäs evolved through Carl and Karin's extensions to the property - a new studio, extra sleeping quarters, additional outbuildings - and the property increased in stature, so Larsson returned at intervals to record its main approach and front entrance.

Karin Larsson's father had originally purchased Lilla Hyttnäs in 1875 for his widowed mother and her two sisters, Ulla and Maria. When Ulla died in 1888 Maria moved out, Karin's father gave the property to his daughter and son-in-law. But when Karin and Carl took on the property as their summer residence they found little to recommend it beyond the site itself, and the possibilities inherent in the house. It was perched on what Carl called a slag heap, and was accompanied by a couple of lilac bushes, some birch trees and a potato patch.

Despite this, the Larssons started making changes and additions. In 1890 Larsson added a first studio on to the house, financed in part by a bequest from Karin's father who had died earlier that year. A porch was also added to the main entrance. Then in 1899 the new and significantly larger free standing studio was built, the old studio becoming the workshop, where Karin set up her weaving looms and which on occasion was also used for entertaining. Until 1901 the Larssons used the house just during the warm summer months and for Christmas, but that year connecting rooms were constructed between the old cottage and the new studio to enable the family to live at Lilla Hyttnäs all year round (fig. 1). 

The recording of the improvements to Lilla Hyttnäs became a central theme in Larsson's work, and one that through his watercolours, illustrated books and writings brought him considerable financial success. Certainly, by the time the present work was painted, the Larssons had created an idyll of domestic harmony that has since come to represent Swedish style the world over.