JOHAN TOBIAS SERGEL - leclaire-kunst.de

LE CLAIRE
SEIT 1982
KUNST
JOHAN TOBIAS SERGEL
1740 – Stockholm – 1814
Gallodier gives out keys to the cellar to thirsty guests
Pen and brown ink with grey wash on paper. 1795.
Signed and inscribed lower right: Le General Harpagon de la Gallodière donnant un diner a La Singora Prada / est
environé de ses bons amis qui lui font l’honneur de boir (le 4. d’Octobre 1795) / son ancien vin. Ce toute par amitié et par la
grande considération pour / sa générosité du bon cœur. / Sergel a Drottningholm.
205 x 330 mm
PROVENANCE: Formerly in the collection of Sergel at Spånga, Södermanland
LITERATURE: Ludvig Looström, Johan Tobias Sergel, en gustaviansk tidsbild, 1914, p.55, repr. p.57.
In 1779, the Swedish sculptor and draughtsman Johan Tobias Sergel returned to Stockholm after a
sojourn of eleven years in Italy (1767-78) to take up an appointment as court sculptor to Gustav III of
Sweden. In the same year, he was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Academy of Fine Arts in
Stockholm. By this time, his international reputation was well established and he was soon to occupy
a central role in the social and artistic life of the capital.
In his sculptural œuvre Sergel consciously distanced himself from the real world. His sculptures are
executed in the classical, idealistic tradition. His drawings fall into two groups – studies for sculpture,
where he follows academic tradition, and sketches of his social life in which he develops a free,
expressive technique stimulated by his contacts with contemporaries and friends. These drawings are
filled with intense feeling for life. They also document his skills in handling subjects from grotesque
humour to tragic drama. The present sheet belongs to the second group of drawings.
Louis Gallodier (1734 –1803), a French ballet dancer and choreographer, spent the majority of his
career in Sweden, were he was to have a great importance for the development of the ballet in
Sweden as the ballet master of the Royal Swedish Ballet. Gustav III of Sweden who came to the
throne in 1771 was very interested in arts and theatre. He wanted to found a national stage with
native actors. When the Swedish Royal Ballet was founded in 1773, several of dancers were of French
origin, and Gallodier was made its first ballet master. Gallodier also composed several dances to
ballets and operas.
In this caricature drawing Sergel does not show Gallodier as the then famous ballet master he was
but in the role as a host in his home in Drottningholm. According to the inscription on the drawing
Gallodier must have been famous for his avarice. The inscription calls him Harpagon de la Gallodiere,
recalling the name of Molière’s l’Avare, a rich and mean father of two children. In the drama
Harpagon gives a diner, advising his cook to spend as little as possible. Handing over the keys for his
wine cellar to his guests must have been such an extraordinary gesture of generosity and hospitality
that Sergel, who seems to have witnessed this event, made it the motif of this finished drawing.
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Louis Gallodier, in a Swedish silhouette (c.1780)
LE CLAIRE
SEIT 1982
KUNST
ELBCHAUSSEE 386 ∙ 22609 HAMBURG ∙ TELEFON: +49 (0)40 881 06 46 ∙ FAX: +49 (0)40 880 46 12
LECLAIRE@LECLAIRE-KUNST.DE ∙ WWW.LECLAIRE-KUNST.DE
HYPOVEREINSBANK HAMBURG ∙ BLZ: 200 300 00 ∙ KTO: 222 5464
SWIFT (BIC): HYVEDEMM300 ∙ IBAN: DE88 200 3000 0000 222 5464
STEUERNUMMER 42/040/02717 ∙ UST.-ID.-NR.: DE 118 141 308