18th century blog

Frihetstidens Konst and Den Gustavianska Konsten by Göran Alm et al. are two big books in the same series about Swedish art history. As far as I know they’re not available in any other language than Swedish.

I thought both books were excellent, although Den Gustavianska Konsten was my favourite since the gustavian era is my favourite. They both cover many categories such as architecture, gardening, visual arts, furniture, textiles and folk art and more and there’s lots of information in every section, plus some general information about the era. There are also many gorgeous pictures, both photos, paintings and drawings. It’s just as fun to just look at the pictures without reading, but if you want good information the text is great. I’m far from an expert on antiquities though so this is an amateurs opinion.

Unfortunately both books seem terribly hard to find for sale, I could only find Den Gustavianska Konsten for sale at one place on the web, and it was insanely expensive. I found both books at the library though so I recommend looking for them there. I already returned Frihetstidens Konst so that’s why I only have a photo of one cover. If I could find them for sale at a reasonable price I would definitely buy them both, highly recommended!

“Axel von Fersen” by Herman Lindqvist
This is a biography of Axel von Fersen and contains information about his entire life. I found it very interesting although not extremely entertainingly written. There’s lots to learn about Fersen himself, but also about other people around him, such as Gustav III, and interesting anecdotes about 18th century court life. There are many excerpts from Fersen’s own diary for example.

The Fersen and Marie Antoinette question is controversial to some, but although it’s obvious that the author personally believes their relationship was sexual at least once, the book doesn’t state anything as absolutely true or false.

It’s definitely worth a read, both if you’re interested in Fersen or just 18th century life in general. The ending is really sad and horrible of course, because of his gruesome death. The book is available in Swedish and Finnish.

En bädd av dun by Christopher O’Regan
This is a book about life at the court of Gustav III of Sweden, and also quite a bit about Gustav himself. I thought it was great. Fun to read and lots of interesting facts and stories. It is illustrated with paintings and drawings from the period, and also a few photographs of people dressed like 18th century people and of existing costumes and items from the 18th century. This book exists only in Swedish as far as I know.

Queen of Fashion by Caroline Weber
I got this book for Christmas and really really loved it. It tells Marie Antoinette’s story through her clothes. Lots of interesting information about 18th century fashion, and a very engaging biography. Not the slightest bit boring. It doesn’t have many pictures at all though so don’t expect a lot of illustrations. I highly recommend it.