Pehr Hilleström
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This scene with morning tasks was painted by Pehr Hilleström, one of Sweden’s most prominent artists at the turn of the 19th Century. This sort of motif with small stories out of everyday– and work life from all levels of society is typical of him.
The painting shows two women in a yellow cabinet with furniture and porcelain urns in Gustavian style. One woman is fastening her suspender while the other is standing by the window holding up a comb with a few hairs in it. Perhaps checking for lice, the scourge of that time?
The artist calls the painting “A woman fixes her suspender and the maid stands by the window checking a few hairs in a comb”. Pehr Hilleström has perhaps misunderstood the maid part. The woman at the window, with a dark green beautifully patterned shawl over her shoulders, is too well dressed to be a maid. Maybe they are sisters or friends? The woman fastening her suspender has stockings, embroidered on the calves. A rose coloured dress she is about to put on lies on the chair beside her. Both women’s clothes are of the latest fashion. On the table we can see the corner of a mirror, some books, a crucifix, a powder-box and powder-puff. The book and crucifix are most probably symbols to illustrate the women’s literary interests and Christian ways. The sculpture in the background is a cast of an antique sculpture in the Vatican in Rome.
Pehr Hilleström was born in the 1730’s and came to Stockholm as a child where he lived until his death in 1816. In time he became both appointed painter to H.M. The King, and professor and headmaster at the Academy of Art. Even so, he still found time to paint. Between 1733 and 1810 he painted 1.065 paintings. He has himself noted as much in a hand written list.
Sometimes his rooms are real, sometimes not, but nevertheless they show the reality of that time, for Hilleström is an honest witness who defined 18th Century Sweden – whether in his paintings he depicts portraits, factory or blacksmith workshops, peasant cottages or bourgeois lounges.
