Large Oil On Canvas - Hugo Fredrik Salmson (1843–1894)

Large oil on canvas signed “Hugo Fredrik Salmson” (1843–1894) in the lower right corner. Dimensions: 89 x 116 cm (stretcher); 109 x 137 cm (frame)

Hugo Fredrik Salmson was a Swedish painter born on July 7, 1843, in Stockholm and died on August 1, 1894, in Lund. Hugo Salmson was the son of Ludvig Salmson and Matilda Perlberg. He was the nephew of the engraver Johan Salmson (1799–1859) and the lithographer Axel Jakob Salmson (1807–1876). He was also the cousin of the sculptor Jules Salmson, father of the engineer and designer Jean Jules Émile Salmson, founder of the Salmson brand.

He enrolled at the Academy of Arts in 1862. He painted *Den förlorade sonens återkomst* (*The Return of the Prodigal Son*) in 1866, and the watercolors *Duett från 1600-talet* and *Don Quixote berättar* (Don Quixote Tells His Story), as well as the Swedish historical scenes *Katarina Jagellonika and Göran Persson* and *Sten Sture the Younger’s Meeting with Gustaf Trolle* in 1867, which were exhibited in Uppsala Cathedral. The latter earned him the King’s Medal as well as the Academy’s travel grant, which he held from 1868 to 1873.

He moved to Paris, where he became a student of Pierre-Charles Comte. He painted the historical painting *Gustav Vasa*. A self-portrait from this period is in the collection of the Academy of Painting. In 1870, he painted *Upptäckten* (*The Discovery*), depicting a theatrical scene set in a cottage in Dalarna. In 1872, he painted *Odalisk*. At the 1873 Salon, he exhibited *Market Square in Antwerp in the 18th Century*. In 1874, he exhibited *St. John’s Day in Dalarna*, which was purchased by the Washington Museum. In 1875, he exhibited two paintings, *Swedish Girl* and *Pierrot with a Violin*; in 1876, *In the Greenhouse*; and in 1877, *The Return from the Baptism*. In 1878, he exhibited *Beet Harvesters in Sweden*, a large-scale painting in the naturalist style that received a mixed reception from Swedish critics. The following year, he presented *Arrest in a Picardy Village* (now on loan from the Musée d’Orsay to the Musée de Picardie in Amiens) at the annual Salon in Paris; the painting earned him a medal and was purchased by the French government, which launched his career in France.

In 1884, the French government purchased *At the Barrier* (now at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris), which he had presented at the Salon; at the time, the government’s purchase of two works by the same foreign artist was a rare honor. In 1889, he served as a member of the international jury in the “painting” category at the Paris World’s Fair, with his compatriot August Hagborg as his alternate.

His success in Paris was largely due to his adoption of the naturalist style in the late 1870s. Naturalism was indeed very much in vogue in France at the time, championed by artists such as Jules Bastien-Lepage and Jules Breton.

• *La Petite Glaneuse* (The Little Gleaner), 1884 (1885 Salon), oil on canvas, 133 × 111 cm, Nantes Museum of Art. An undated version of this painting is held at the Nationalmuseum