The Art Collection of Carl Gustaf Tessin

As part of the research project dealing with the History of Art Collections in Sweden a first volume is now under publication, a scholarly catalogue of the private art collection of Carl Gustaf Tessin, comprising a total of over 870 items.

Project co-ordinator is Dr. Magnus Olausson, Senior Curator. Author of the first volume is Roger de Robelin, B.A. In addition to the extensive documentation of each individual item catalogued, various aspects of Tessin’s collecting are treated, among others, questions concerning its background and general character. Further, Tessin’s role as an art patron, his pattern of collecting, connoisseurship, and art collecting as a means of transferring money, as a financial investment, etc., are analyzed. Contemporary ways of exhibiting and arranging paintings are discussed with reference to Tessin’s example.