 |
| Margaretha de Heer Cabinet miniature - Beetle and butterflies in landscape before 1665 watercolor on vellum Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"Unlike Italy, France, and Spain, where artwork was almost exclusively made-to-order for the very wealthy, in seventeenth-century Holland art became a portable commodity affordable to the middle class. This development encouraged a diversity of subjects and techniques, and consequently Dutch painters were the first Europeans to develop fully the genres of still life, seascape, townscape, landscape, and scenes from everyday life. Women artists, however, tended to avoid certain subjects. Unable to study anatomy from the nude, most could not acquire enough proficiency to compose groups of human figures in action, as was necessary for painting successful historical or religious subjects. Seascapes or town views were seldom popular subjects, perhaps because women needed chaperones to study them. With the exception of wax modeling and silhouette cutting, few women produced much sculpture. . . . Although there were exceptions, the majority of Netherlandish women painters practiced still life and/or portraiture."
– Women's Studies Encyclopedia, edited by Helen Tierney (Greenwood, 1999)
 |
| Gustaf Torshell Miniature portrait of Hedvig Ulrica Taube as Diana 1736 watercolor on vellum Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Niclas Lafrensen Cabinet-miniature - Maid assisting Mistress to rise 1776 gouache on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Niclas Lafrensen Cabinet miniature - Maid assisting Mistress with enema 1776 gouache on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"Miniatures were not only private tokens. 'Cabinet' miniatures would have been shown in a display case or hung in a small room (both called cabinets) along with other precious objects."
– curator's notes from the Victoria & Albert Museum
 |
| Lorentz Svensson Sparrgren Interior with Count Claes Ekeblad and his wife Brita née Horn 1783 watercolor on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Peter Adolf Hall Portrait of artist Hubert Robert before 1793 gouache on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Egron Lundgren The Fates before 1875 gouache on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Anders Zorn In Mourning 1880 watercolor on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Carl Hedelin Portrait of Wilhelmina (Mina) Carlson 1884 watercolor on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Eero Järnefelt Portrait of the artist's wife 1895 gouache on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Harald Sohlberg Winter Night in the Mountains ca, 1901-1902 watercolor on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| John Bauer A Fairy Shepherd 1910 watercolor on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
"Bauer consistently and privately doubted himself. He considered the praise he received for his pictures of trolls and princesses to be "a nice pat on the head for making funny pictures for children." He wanted to paint in oils and make what he called "real art," but he needed the money he received for his illustrations."
– John Bauer: an Artist and his Fairy Tale World (1982) by Per Bjurström (and others)
 |
| Nils Dardel Portrait of writer David Sprengel 1918 watercolor on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |
 |
| Helmer Osslund Study of Model 1920 gouache and tempera on paper Nationalmuseum, Stockholm |