Två konstnärers sätt att i ord och bild presentera sig själva i sengotikens Norden

Abstract

Title: The Self-representation in Image and Word of two Late Gothic Artists in Scandinavia

This article describes the way in which two of Sweden’s most prominent artists (around 1500) manifested themselves in both image and word. The painter Albert came from Germany to Sweden in 1465 and lived and worked there for the rest of his life. In 1473 he could settle in Stockholm by marrying the widow of a painter and Albert stayed in the Swedish capital to his death in 1509. We know that he has left his signature in nine churches in the provinces around Stockholm and in some of them his signature is still preserved. In the church of Lid his signature is written above his self portrait. He has left another self portrait in Härkeberga church and close to the kneeling painter here a young man stands at a painted altar, probably his apprentice. – Adam van Düren came to Sweden together with other German stone masons in 1487 in order to complete the cathedral of Linköping. From 1500 up to 1532 he worked in Denmark, mainly in the province of Scania. In the cathedral of Lund he has left two self portraits. Under a vault in the north transept his head is looking towards the head of his wife. And on the base of a column in the nave he has portrayed himself as a donkey, that collapses under a too heavy burden. Here the inscription says: He must be a donkey who takes more on than he can carry, 1527.