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Nationalmuseum
Artist: David Beck (1621–1656)
Alternative names: Gulden Scepter, David Beck (II)
Dutch painter, draughtsman, printmaker and court painter
Work location: London (1641), Stockholm (1647-1653), Rome (1653), Northern Netherlands (1653-1656), The Hague (1656)
Depicted people: Drottning Kristina
Title: Queen Christina of Sweden (1626 - 1689)
Object type: Painting
Description: Christina ruled over an expansive superpower. There are several details in this portrait of her that point to interests far beyond Sweden’s borders: the shimmering silk, the citrus blossoms in her hair, and the idealized landscape that fades away in the distance. The rich folds of the dress, the elegant turn of the body, and the sense of capturing the fleeting moment—she is just looking up from reading a letter—were highly fashionable elements in portraiture at the time. The artist was, after all, trained in London by Anthony van Dyck, the leading portraitist of the Baroque.
Date: 1650
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 110 cm (43.3 in). Width: 92 cm (36.2 in).
Framed: Height: 129 cm (50.8 in). Width: 111 cm (43.7 in). Depth: 10 cm (3.9 in).
Inscriptions (Swedish): Signerad: D Beck fecit 1650
SKU: 273800
