Victorine Nordenswan Explained

Birth Name:Hildur Antoinette Viktorine[1] Nordenswan[2]
Birth Date:14 June 1838
Birth Place:Hämeenlinna, Grand Duchy of Finland
Death Place:Hämeenlinna
Alma Mater:Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts
Movement:Düsseldorf school of painting
Awards:Dukaattipalkinto (1865, 1867)

Victorine Nordenswan (1838—1872) was a Finnish painter in the Düsseldorf tradition, specialising in religious themes, and notable as one of the first professional female artists of Finland.[3]

Visual art in the mid-19th century was male-dominated, but Nordenswan was considered to be exceptionally talented, and widely expected to make a significant career as an artist. However, she died of tuberculosis at age 34.

Nordenswan trained at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm in 1860–1862, and from 1864 onwards in Düsseldorf.[4] Her public debut was in 1861, and she won in the Finnish Art Society's the second prize in 1865, followed by the first prize in 1867.

Among her best-known works are St. John the Evangelist (1866) and Women Mourning at Christ’s Grave (1868), both today housed at the Finnish National Gallery.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Shown in different sources alternatively as Victorine or Viktorine
  2. Web site: Nordenswan, Viktorine . Uppslagsverket.fi . 7 August 2021 . sv.
  3. Web site: Nordenswan, Victorine (1838-1872) . Kansallisbiografia.fi . National Biography of Finland . 7 August 2021 . fi.
  4. Web site: Victorine Nordenswan . Artist Register . Artists' Association of Finland . 7 August 2021.
  5. Web site: Women Mourning at Christ’s Grave . Finnish National Gallery . 7 August 2021.