Per Krafft the Elder

Per Krafft the Elder
Born	16 January 1724 Arboga, Sweden
Died	7 November 1793 Stockholm, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish
Education	Uppsala
Style	portraitist
Relatives	Per Krafft the Younter and Wilhelmina Krafft (children)

Per Krafft the Elder (16 January 1724 – 7 November 1793) was a Swedish portraitist. He was the father of the artists Per Krafft the Younger and Wilhelmina Krafft.

Early life

Per Krafft was born in

. In 1752 Krafft painted the Count and Countess Thotts and their daughter's portrait, later kept in Gavnø and Frederiksborg Castle.

National Museum, Warsaw

, 1767

Travel

In 1755 he traveled to

Margravine Elisabeth Fredericka Sophie of Brandenburg-Bayreuth

, and a portrait of the Margravine's friend, the ambassador, Count Fr. Ellrodt.

Margrave Frederick's death dissolved the academy and the artists dispersed. Krafft then went to Italy, where he visited Bologna and Florence. After a new subsistence in Bayreuth, where Krafft again portrayed the Duchess of Wurttemberg, he went to Dresden, where he portrayed the minister, Baron von Fritsch. For the Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski, Krafft was called to Warsaw, where he painted in 1767–68 a pictor regius with a variety of portraits for the Polish court.

Return to Sweden

Gustave III of Sweden

, 1786

In 1768 Krafft returned to Stockholm after 21 years abroad. Pastel were now out of style, and oil paintings again in vogue. Before the portrait orders increased, Krafft undertook other assignments. In 1770, he painted an altarpiece for Muskö chapel. In competition with

as Crown Prince. Later, he received more orders of King Gustaf III and his queen, and received the title of Professor in 1773 and was elected to the painting academy. At the Academy Krafft painted his self-portrait around 1775.

Per Krafft painted also

. Skåne castle hosts several portraits done by Krafft. Among his main works from later years include a full-length portrait of Georg Potocki, and several portraits for the family of his wife and children. His children have been painted by Krafft several times, sometimes both together.

He was the father of the painters Per Krafft the Younger and Wilhelmina Krafft. He died in Stockholm.

Sources

• Carlquist, Gunnar, ed (1933). Swedish dictionary. Bd 15. Malmö Swedish Uppslagsbok AB. pg. 1173–75

External links

• Goteborg.se (in Swedish)