Elias Martin

Elias Martin was a Swedish genre, history, and landscape painter and engraver from Stockholm. He is known for his watercolour paintings of Stockholm, and his landscape oil paintings that feature romantic lighting effects. Nationalencyklopedin describes him as Sweden's "first great landscape painter".

Among Martin's most famous works from this time are the paintings he made in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. These include Britomartis befriande Amoret ur trollqvinnans våld (English: Britomart frees Amor from the witch's possession; based on Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene) and Arkebiskop Langton, som af konungen erhåller en handling.

Martin gained a good reputation in England for his paintings, and he became an Associate of the Royal Academy. In 1781 he earned a membership at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, and a year later he traveled to Sweden. He went ashore in Helsingborg and passed through Lund, Karlskrona, and Kalmar before arriving in Stockholm. On his journey he saw many views that he later depicted in watercolour and oil paintings. Martin stayed in the capital of Sweden for several years, diligently working on paintings, drawings, and engravings that people ordered. Some of his foremost paintings from this period include Midsommarfest, Hertigens af Småland döpelseakt i slottskapellet (1782), Gustaf III:s och hertig Fredrik Adolfs besök i Målare- och bildhuggare-akademien, Uppsala (1784; given to Pope Pius VI), Gripsholm (1784), Engelska parken vid Drottningholm (1785), Stockholm från Mosebacke (1786-87).

In 1788 Martin once again traveled to England, where he first stayed in London and then in Bath. In the summer of 1791 he was recalled to Sweden by King Gustav III. He remained there until his death. During his final years in Stockholm Martin produced several engravings and paintings, primarily depicting landscapes, in watercolour and oils. He also became an art teacher.

Martin died in Stockholm on 25 January 1818. His younger brother, Johan Fredrik Martin, was also a painter; he engraved some of Elias's works.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023