Johan Tobias Sergel
{{Infobox artist
| image = Johan Tobias Sergel.jpg
| caption = Johan Tobias Sergel. Lithograph by Alexander Clemens Wetterling, 1849
| birth_name = Johan Tobias Sergel
| birth_place = Stockholm, Sweden
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1740|09|07|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1814|02|26|1740|09|07|df=yes}}
| death_place = Stockholm
| nationality = Swedish
}}
Johan Tobias Sergel ({{IPA|sv|ˈsæ̌rɡɛl}};[http://forvo.com/word/sergel/#sv "Sergel"] at Forvo 7 September 1740 in Stockholm – 26 February 1814 in Stockholm) was a Swedish neoclassical sculptor. Sergels torg, the largest square in the centre of Stockholm and near where his workshop stood, is named after him.{{cite book | author=Hall, Thomas | title=Huvudstad i omvandling – Stockholms planering och utbyggnad under 700 år | publisher=Sveriges Radios förlag | year=1999 | pages=181–186 | location=Stockholm | isbn=91-522-1810-4 | language = Swedish}}
Life
File:Sergel Queen Sofia Magdalena 1783.JPG, 1783]]
Johan Tobias Sergel was born in Stockholm in 1740. He was the son of the decorator, Christoffer Sergel and Elisabet (née Swyrner), and was the brother of the decorator, Anna Brita Sergel. His first teacher was Pierre Hubert Larchevêsque.New International Encyclopedia, 1905 After studying in Paris, he went to Rome,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} where he moved in the same circles as the painters Alexander Runciman and James Barry.Macmillan, Duncan (2023), Scotland and the Origins of Modern Art, Lund Humphries, London, pp. 65 - 84, {{isbn|978-1-84822-633-3}} He stayed in Rome for twelve years and sculpted a number of groups in marble. Besides subjects from classical mythology such as the Diomedes Stealing the Palladium, which he sold to the British collector, Thomas Mansel Talbot, in 1772, he also sculpted a colossal representation of The Muse of History Recording the Deeds of Gustavus Adolphus, in which are depicted the achievements of King Gustav II Adolf before the Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna. It was in Rome also that he modelled the statue of King Gustav III, subsequently cast in bronze and purchased by the city of Stockholm in 1796. While primarily a sculptor, Sergel (inspired by English artists like Thomas Rowlandson) also drew sequential picture stories, an early form of comic strip.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
File:Bellmans porträtt, efter teckning av Sergel, Nordisk familjebok.png, 1792]]
Summoned by Gustav III, Sergel returned to Stockholm in 1779 and continued to work there. Among the monuments he created at this time are a tomb for Gustav Vasa, a monument to Descartes, and a large relief in the church of St. Clarens, representing the Resurrection. He was an important part of the artistic elite in Stockholm, drawing a portrait of Sweden's bard Carl Michael Bellman among others. He had a relationship with the celebrated actress Fredrique Löwen and was possibly the father of one of her children. He died in his native city on 26 February 1814.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
Works
Among his works in the Nationalmuseum in Blasieholmen, central Stockholm are his monumental sculptures "Diomedes Stealing the Palladium", "The Muse of History Recording the Deeds of Gustavus Adolphus", and a "Bust of Gustavus III".
File:Centaure enlacant une bacchante.jpg|Centaur embracing a bacchante, terracotta, 1775–1778
File:Hetsigtkärlekspar.jpg|Passionate couple, wash drawing, n.d.
File:Venus och Ankises.jpg |Venus and Anchises, n.d.
File:Sergel Kvinna som stiger ur badet.jpg|Woman climbing out of bath, plaster relief, n.d.
File:Johan Tobias Sergel, självporträtt från 1793.jpg|Self-portrait with his common-law wife Anna-Rella Hellström and their son Gustav, wash drawing, 1793
File:Johan Tobias Sergel Oxenstierna 02.jpg|Sculpture of Axel Oxenstierna, on the south side of the postament of the Gustav II Adolf monument in Stockholm, bronze, 1796
File:Johan Tobias Sergel - Dansande Backantinna.jpg|Dancing bacchante, crayon on paper, n.d.
File:Frantz Hohlenberg by Sergel.jpg|Caricature of Frantz Christopher Henrik Hohlenberg (1764-1804), Danish shipbuilder and naval officer, 1797
File:Karlstads domkyrka altar cross.jpg|Altar cross of Karlstad Cathedral
File:Monument_to_King_Gustav_III_of_Sweden_(Stockholm).jpg|Statue of King Gustav III of Sweden, Skeppsbron, Stockholm. Dedicated 1808
File:Suomenlinna Ehrensvard grave.jpg|Tomb of Field Marshal Augustin Ehrensvärd's grave at Suomenlinna, 1805
File:Bellmanskällan 2012bb.jpg|Medallion of Carl Michael Bellman, Bellmanskällan. Bronze
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Sergel, Johan Tobias|year=1905}}
Attribution:
- {{EB1911|wstitle=Sergel, Johan Tobias|volume=24|page=666}}
External links
{{commons category|Johan Tobias Sergel}}
- [http://lambiek.net/artists/s/sergel_jt.htm Johan Tobias Sergel] at Lambiek artists archive.
{{Authority control (arts)|country=SV}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sergel, Johan Tobias}}
Category:Swedish male sculptors
Category:Neoclassical sculptors
Category:Age of Liberty people
Category:Swedish comics artists
Category:Artists from Stockholm
Category:18th-century sculptors
Category:18th-century Swedish artists
Category:18th-century Swedish male artists