Gustaf Wilhelm Finnberg

• Gustaf Wilhelm Finnberg : Anton af Tengström, 1826, 84x66,5 cm, oil, canvas (A I 497, Hoving) (42.7 kB)

Despite his humble origin, Gustav Wilhelm Finnberg (1784-1833) also managed to enter the Stockholm Royal Academy. He was fortunate to have as one of his teachers Carl Fredrik von Breda, who wisely encouraged in his Finnish student his strongest side: his inherent talent for colourism. Through his teacher Finnberg was far more closely connected with continental European Romanticism than with the few artists of his native country.

When Finnberg, having completed his studies, returned to Finland, his clientele consisted of the nobility and other educated circles in and around Turku. The artist was heartly welcomed among the few portraitists in the country, but the portrait commissions on offer were not able to satisfy Finnberg: I must get to Rome even if I have to crawl. The hopes of a scholarship to Italy were never realized; for some unknown reason Finnberg never received a certificate of graduation, required for the scholarship, from the Royal Academy.

Finnberg was interested in great mythological subjects, historical events and biblical stories. But there was hardly any demand for such pictures in the Finland of the times; portraits were still virtually the only alternative in terms of making a living.

Stockholms Posten summarised the situation in art at the beginning of the 19th century: Three things are required of art: firstly portraits, secondly portraits and thirdly portraits. Furthermore it is required that the commission be quickly completed, the painting a good likeness as well as beautiful, even against nature, and the price low.

Finnberg's pictures seldom satisfied the expectations of his clients. They found the soft painterliness of his pictures incomplete and sketchy and the artist was expected to render his pictures more accurate. When Finnberg, despite his clients' wishes, refused to continue a work that he regarded finished, he was labelled desperately slow and incompetent.

Finnberg was a misfit in the artistic life of his times both as an artist and a person. He was unable to assume the social graces required of a portraitist and his taciturn manner was almost an embarrasment to others. In Sweden no more than in Finland was he able to accept prevailing ideals in art. This was partly the reason for all the failures and disappointments that surrounded his person, his life and his art. The gravest misfortune to befall him was the 1827 fire of Turku, where the artist lost a great part of his production. Finnberg never got over this accident.

Gustaf Wilhelm Finnberg : Anton af Tengström