The king's invention

Many monarchs of the Enlightenment showed an active interest in architecture. Inspired by a new facsimile of royal drawings from Sweden, Clive Aslet looks at the designs of Gustavus III

- Clive Aslet

IN 1779, Gustavus III of Sweden commissioned a painting from Pehr Hilleström called Conversation at Drottningholm Palace. It shows the King and his court in one of the à la mode neo-Classical rooms of Drottningholm Palace, outside Stockholm, lit by tall sash windows draped with the lightest of translucent fabrics. The ladies, busily employed at their needlework, listen to a man reading from a book as Gustavus, seated at a desk, gazes upwards, as if for inspiration. His pencil hovers over some architectural drawings on his desk. They relate to a visit he had recently paid to his cousin Catherine the Great of Russia. As he wrote to her describing the painting: 'I am sitting on a sofa, drawing, and I am reviewing numerous plans, including one of Tsarskoe Selo where I am looking at the places where I strolled with the mistress of this beautiful place.' He was reliving the trip through the buildings he had seen. The architecture was a passion.

From Ancient Egypt onwards, building monuments and palaces has always been a kingly activity. In Renaissance Italy, the Humanist author Baldassare Castiglione laid particular emphasis on the need for a great ruler to be remembered through the architectural achievements of his reign. The idea held. Every Baroque monarch wanted to follow the example of Louis XIV, for whom gloire blazed through the château and gardens of Versailles, not to mention the Grand Trianon, the palace of his mistress Madame de Montespan at Clagny, the military hospital of Les Invalides and numerous fortifications by Vauban. Louis loved to immerse himself in the creative process, taking a minute interest in his projects and personally approving drawings even when on a campaign. In this respect, Gustavus was another Sun King, albeit without matching resources. He collaborated closely with his architects, whether or not he was holding the pencil himself.