Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Treasures from the Nationalmuseum of Sweden: The Collections of Count Tessin

February 3 through May 14, 2017

The Nationalmuseum, Sweden’s largest and most distinguished art institution, is partnering with the Morgan to bring more than seventy-five masterpieces from its collections to New York for a rare visit. The show includes work by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt van Rijn, Antoine Watteau, and François Boucher.
 
The core holdings of the Nationalmuseum were assembled by Count Carl Gustaf Tessin (1696–1770), a diplomat and one of the great art collectors of his day. On assignment in Paris from 1739, Tessin came into contact with the leading artists of the time and commissioned many works from them. He was also among the most active buyers at major sales of old master paintings and drawings. By the time he left Paris in 1742, he had amassed a truly impressive collection.
 
Among the fourteen paintings in the exhibition are three commissioned by Tessin and exhibited at the 1740 Parisian Salon: Boucher’s Triumph of Venus, Jean-Baptiste Oudry’s Dachshound Pehr with Dead Game and Rifle, and a Portrait of Count Tessin by Jacques-André-Joseph Aved, in which the collector is shown among his art, books, and medals. The group of paintings will also feature six works by Jean-Siméon Chardin.
 
The drawings include works by Italian masters such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, Raphael, Giulio Romano, and Annibale Carracci. Northern European artists are represented by Dürer, Hendrik Goltzius, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Anthony van Dyck, among others. The French drawings begin with Francesco Primaticcio and practitioners of the Fountainebleau school and include works by Jacques Callot and Nicholas Poussin, as well as Count Tessin’s French contemporaries, Boucher, Chardin, and Watteau.

Watch Colin B. Bailey, Director of the Morgan, discuss Boucher’s Triumph of Venus.

Treasures from the Nationalmuseum of Sweden: The Collections of Count Tessin is made possible by a lead gift from the Michel David-Weill Foundation, major funding from The Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Family Foundation and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, and generous support from the Johansson Family Foundation, Katharine J. Rayner, the Christian Humann Foundation, the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, and The American-Scandinavian Foundation.

JL Greene

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François Boucher (1703–1770), The Triumph of Venus, 1740. Oil on canvas, 130 x 162 cm. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

Publication

Selected Images

François Boucher (French, 1703–1770), The Triumph of Venus, 1740, oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum.

Jacques-André-Joseph Aved (French, 1702–1766), Portrait of Count Carl Gustaf Tessin, 1740, oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum.

François Boucher (French, 1703-1770), The Milliner, 1746, oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

François Boucher (French, 1703-1770), Study of a Hen, ca. 1727/28, black, red and white chalk on light brown paper. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Annibale Carracci (Italian, 1560–1609), Nude Study of a Young Man Lying on his Back, ca. 1583-85, red chalk. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum.

Jean Siméon Chardin (French, 1699-1779), The Sedan Chair (La vinaigrette), 1722, black chalk, heightened with white, on brownish gray paper. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Jean Siméon Chardin (French, 1699–1779), The Morning Toilette, 1740–41, oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Jean Siméon Chardin (French, 1699–1779), Young Student Drawing, 1733–35, oil on oak. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528), Portrait of a Young Woman with Braided Hair, 1515, black chalk and charcoal. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Domenico Ghirlandaio (Italian, 1488/89–1494), Head of an Old Man, ca. 1490, silverpoint with white heightening on pink prepared paper. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Hendrick Goltzius (Netherlandish, 1558–1617), Self-Portrait, ca. 1590–91, black, red, and white chalk, with watercolors. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (French, 1686–1755), The Dachshund Pehr with Dead Game and Rifle, 1740, oil on canvas. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum.

Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594–1665), The Nourishment of Jupiter, ca. 1635, pen and brown ink, with reworked patch pasted at center. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum.

Francesco Primaticcio (Italian, 1504–1570), The Daughters of Minyas, ca. 1540-45, pen and red ink and wash, heightened with white, on pink prepared paper. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Raphael (Raffaello Santi, Italian, 1483–1520), Adoration of the Infant Christ, ca. 1503–4, pen and brown ink, incised for transfer. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669), Study for the Figure of Esther in The Great Jewish Bride, 1635, pen and gray-brown and dark brown ink, brown and gray wash, on beige paper. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669), Three Thatched Cottages by a Road, ca. 1640, pen and brown ink and wash, with touches of white heightening. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser/Nationalmuseum

Giulio Pippi, called Giulio Romano (Italian, ca. 1499–1546), Apollo and Cyparissus, ca. 1525–30, pen and brown ink and brown wash. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Attributed to Anthony van Dyck, after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1599–1641), Robin the Dwarf, black and white chalk, with touches of ocher and red chalk, and blue-green fabricated chalk, on gray paper. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum

Antoine Watteau (French, 1684–1721), Four Studies of a Young Woman’s Head, ca. 1720, red, black, and white chalk. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Photo: Cecilia Heisser / Nationalmuseum.