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.
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Denne historien er fra June 15, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds