Gustaf Lundberg
Swedish, 1695 - 1786
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Gustaf Lundberg was a Swedish rococo painter. He trained and worked in Paris and later was appointed court portrait painter in Stockholm.
Lundberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, son of royal chef Gustaf Lundberg and his wife Sabina Richter, whose family included successful artists. Orphaned at an early age, he was raised by his grandfather, Fredrik Richter, who was a goldsmith. Lundberg was later apprenticed to German-Swedish painter David von Krafft (1655–1724) in 1712.
In 1717, Lundberg traveled to Paris, where he studied with Hyacinthe Rigaud, Nicolas de Largillière and Jean François de Troy. The determining influence was the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera, who lived in Paris from 1720 to 1721.
Afterwards, Lundberg established himself as one of the leading portrait painters in Paris. He painted Louis XV and his Queen Maria Leszczyńska, and the Queen's parents, deposed King Stanisław Leszczyński and his spouse, and gave Stanislaus pastel painting lessons. He portrayed many of the Swedes visiting Paris, and befriended Count Carl Gustaf Tessin— Swedish ambassador, art collector and member of the famous family of architects, who let him stay in his palace. In addition to his many portraits of French and Swedish aristocracy, he is known for his paintings of colleagues, French Rococo artists Charles-Joseph Natoire and François Boucher.
In 1741, Lundberg was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture).
