Decorative painting in the Hälsingland region of Sweden (, "Helsingian painting") has been practiced as a folk art tradition since the 16th century. Employed as a means of interior decoration in Hälsingland farmhouses, the tradition has been practiced by mostly self-taught and now forgotten artists. Wall paintings were usually applied with distemper paint after covering the hard wooden surface with coarse linen. Decorative painting of furniture was also a ubiquitous manifestation of the art style. Religious themes were predominant until the 18th century, after which the selection of motifs became more diverse. The first reliable attributions of preserved interiors to named artists concern works from that time period. During the early 19th century, classically trained artists started participating in, and influencing, the style, while an influx of folk artists skilled in the Dalcarlian tradition made their mark in the region. The practice of decorating walls with the assistance of stencils was also introduced as a more economical alternative to fashionable, but still very expensive, printed wallpaper. By the end of the 19th century, the folk art tradition had degenerated and went into decline.
Hälsingland is considered one of the premier areas for Swedish folk art due to the substantial number of preserved works. Most of the preserved decorations from the period have been found near the Dellen lakes, as well as the river valleys of Ljusnan and Voxnan. The golden era of decorative painting in Hälsingland, between 1800 and 1870, was vital to the designation of the Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland as a World Heritage Site.
History
Background Hälsingland has an abundance of arable land and has good flax cultivation, linen production, and woodlands that provide quality timber. These economic factors have commonly been given as reasons for the corresponding abundance of richly decorated Hälsingland farmhouses. In contrast, studies of folk art traditions in other areas of Sweden have shown that an abundance of decorative painting is not necessarily dependent on the accumulation of wealth. The oft-cited importance of flax and linen as economic enablers of the art style has also been questioned.
The early period Several fragments of 16th-century works painted on linen weave have been preserved. In fact a disproportionally large part of all Nordic painted tapestries stemming from the 16th century have been discovered in Hälsingland. This is mainly because of the Alfta find unearthed in 1964, after the floor boards at the Hans-Ers farmstead were removed during renovation. The find consists of a number of tapestries of different makes and unknown origins. One of the more exquisite pieces retells the story of the Book of Esther with the characters in contemporary 16th-century vestments. On the back side the tapestry displays an older pattern, possibly from the 15th century. Another weave from the middle 16th century depicts women as allegorical representations of mercy, prudence, and justice.
The farmers of Hälsingland would by the end of the 16th century furnish their homes with richly decorated painted furniture. At the time, most Swedish farmers had no painted furniture at all. Archival documents from 1500 to 1601 reveal at least 20 people titled "painter", indicating that their services were in high demand.
Decorative painting during the 17th and 18th centuries The bulk of traditional painting done during the 17th century has been lost, with only fragmentary remnants preserved. These fragments display a breadth both in choice of motif and style, with grey, black, and red colors predominating. On a farm in Ljusdal parish, a biblical motif was discovered, in this instance painted in distemper on linen weave. From fragments of text contained on the tapestry, it is the story of king Solomon, but the characters are again dressed in accordance with 16th century Swedish fashion. Wall painters of the era would apply paint directly onto the wooden surface, although preparations, including filling the crevasses between the logs with a specific species of moss and then covering it with scraps of linen, were common. The preparations were completed by covering the wall with a layer of white distemper. After the underpainting had dried, the artist could begin working. Several clergy houses in the province still used traditional tapestries to dress the walls as a means of decoration.
The biblical theme was still strong during the 18th century. Alongside people, horses became a favored component of the composition. In the decorated rooms of the homestead, it was customary to paint all surfaces including walls and ceilings. For both, white distemper was still used for the base layer. Wall painters would separate the surface into sections with borders of painted grape wines and columns. Apart from horsemen and other characters, the sections boasted flowers and fruit in grand urns. Ceilings were adorned with grape wines, laurel leaves, and bountiful flower rosettes.
For most of the 18th century the color palette was limited to pigments that could be sourced naturally. Soot or coal for black, chalk or lime for white, ferrous earth for red, and from rare local earth deposits a yellow tint was manufactured. By the middle of the 18th century, Prussian blue was introduced and remained popular throughout the 19th century. The earliest proper attributions connecting various local artists with their works are from the early and middle 18th century. Among these are Gustaf Reuter, a corporal serving in Delsbo company, and Erik Ersson, from Källeräng in Delsbo parish.
The golden age of Helsingian painting during the 19th century During the 19th century, the folk-art style came under the influence of formally, classically trained artists for the first time. Both Jonas Wallström and Olof Hofrén were educated artists proficient in landscape painting who drew columns, where especially Hofren's were true to the classical style. In figurative painting there was a migration in the choice of motif away from the omnipresent biblical scenes. Another novelty was the popularization of distemper-based marble imitations in the foyers of the homesteads.
During the early 1770s Dalarna suffered bad harvests, compelling painters from the province to journey eastward in search of work in prospering regions. Several Dalcarlian painters were active in Gästrikland province from the 1770s onward and during the 19th century their colorful style was in high demand among the rich peasants of Hälsingland. As paper became increasingly available in the 19th century the painters could work from home, in Dalarna, and have the works delivered to their buyers, which facilitated the spread of the Dalcarlian style. The Dalcarlian painters who were active in Hälsingland would adjust their choices of both motifs and color palette to some extent, in order to meet the expectations of their new customers. Dalcarlians usually signed their work. Due to this practice their presence in the province has historically been overplayed, compared to the local Helsingians who would often forgo signing their art.
At the turn of the 19th century, printed wallpaper started competing with, and complementing, the folk art tradition. These wallpapers were mostly block printed. Initially, Helsingian farmers were content to confine the use of wallpaper to a single room, usually the small chamber of the "parstuga", and at the beginning of the century even this custom was a rare one. Printed wallpapers are considered to have inspired stencil based wall-painting, which was introduced during the 1830s by Jonas Wallström. Contracting a stencil painter was considerably cheaper than purchasing actual printed wallpaper. The Helsingian tradition was relatively advanced in terms of both stencil-based patterns and their combination with figurative motifs, in comparison to other Swedish folk-art traditions.
As access to wallpaper improved during the 1840s and 50s, its use became widespread and more than one room was commonly decorated with printed wallpaper. In spite of this, there was a corresponding increase in demand for decorative painting. It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that printed wallpaper would supplant painted decorations, and the use of framed paintings also became usual. The replacement of open fires with cast-iron stoves during the 1860s allowed for the use of wallpaper in the farmhouse kitchens. From the 1870s onward, falling prices enabled even the lower classes to afford wallpaper. From a broader perspective, increasing industrialization and influences from modernism had been eroding local traditional customs. Toward the end of the 19th century the tradition of Helsingian painting had degenerated and went into decline.
The artists The names of most Helsingian painters, as well as the creators of most preserved interiors, have been lost to history, as a result of the tradition of their not signing their work. Still, a number of artists from the 18th and 19th centuries are known by name. The lack of signatures has led to many of the earlier attributions coming into question, due to dubious analysis and having too keenly favored well-known painters. Scientific investigations have demonstrated that cooperation between artists was exceedingly common, which further complicates later attributions.
Several known painters were soldiers or at least fathered by soldiers. Until 1846 guild membership was mandatory, but only for painters active in towns and cities. In the countryside the was authorized to approve local craftsmen. Church records indicate that many painters were poor and died with hardly a penny to their name. Most known painters are men, but there are documented examples of women participating, such as Gustaf Reuter's wife and son working on Delsbo church, while Gustaf himself was away on a military campaign. Some of the Dalcarlian painters' wives contributed, among them Anna Hansdotter, the wife of Bäck Anders Hansson.
Decorative painting as a trade was frequently passed down within families; the know-how could also be acquired by marrying into a family of artists. Some recurring patterns, such as acanthus ornaments and techniques for marbleizing, seem to have been informed by the tastes of the nobility, and the sacral ornaments of church interiors. Many a church painter had in turn adapted their style from the decorations of churches on the European continent, where they had travelled in search of employment. Painters fraternized, cooperated, and learned from each other as they plied their trade, and, in conjunction with their customers' expectations, local styles, and variations of such, arose and prevailed. These styles have in modern times been described using common art history terms: the Karl Johan-style of Arbrå parish, the Gustavian style of Ljusdal parish, and the Baroque of Forsa and Delsbo parishes. Over prolonged periods, prominent individuals or groups of painters would influence the local style. Traveling painters could in turn be inspired by such peculiarities, widening their influence as they wandered the countryside in search of employment.
Gustaf Reuter (1699–1783)