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I refer here mainly to her findings. Hilleström has painted many
everyday scenes, such as washing the laundry. Although his pictures
are not truly documentary in a photograpic sense, they show the life
of their time in a reliable way.
Another investigation 9 deals with Queen Lovisa Ulrika as a collector of
art, and studies whether these paintings reflect the original interior
of the house. Is it really Fredrikshof we see? It has been found that
this is not the case. Rather, the interior reflects the style that was
popular at the time at manors like Fredrikshof. Neither has it been
possible to identify the portrayed persons, the paintings show people
at the court more in general. We see that these people come from the
circles around the queen — they have very elegant clothes and some of
them on the right wear the national Swedish dress that King Gustaf III
introduced. He did so to prevent the nobility from dressing so ostentatiously
and instead to promote materials from his own country.
Now we know a little about the context and can turn to the music.
The painting shows a company of people at the royal court informally
making music. Music was a part of the knowledge one should have
in this part of society. The combination of instruments seems to be
typical for its time:
Man playing cello or viola da gamba, man standing (we see his back)
playing the violin or maybe viola, another man playing the violin,
a man playing transverse flute, a woman playing the harpsichord.
This harpsichord deserves special comment — it looks as if it was made
in Sweden, possibly by Jacob Specken 1748. It might be the one illustrated
on next page as suggested by the head of the Music- and theatre
museum, Hans Riben. Or it could be that the artist was just inspired
by this instrument. The artist is always free, it does not need to be
identical.
The person leading the music is a man with an open hand, see his
gesture. Maybe he is also singing, his mouth is somewhat open. They
might perform a cantata accompanied by flute and violins plus basso
continuo. Two of the persons performing use notated music. At this
time much music was not notated at all, the improvising tradition was
so strong. But this ensemble can be expected to play something composed
and therefore has a score.
In the foreground there is a still life arrangement by the table, a cello
and a transverse flute. We see a score but the music is not legible.
9 Merit Laine, ”En Minerva för vår Nord”: Lovisa Ulrika som samlare,
uppdragsgivare och byggherre. Stockholm, 1998. (diss.)
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