Julius Kronberg - Angelica

Julius Kronberg (1850-1921) Sweden

Angelica

oil on wood panel
signed J.Kronberg
unframed: 40.5 x 32 cm (15 7/8 x 12 5/8 in)
framed: 69 x 61 cm (27 1/8 x 24 in)

Condition: The painting has recently been examined by a professional art conservator, and the surface has been cleaned. The wooden panel is flat and stable. The painting is in very good condition. The original frame has a beautiful aged patina, with minor scuff marks and repairs.

ESSAY:

Literary Origins of Angelica

The subject of this painting is Angelica, a princess from the epic chivalric romances of the Italian Renaissance. She first appears in Matteo Maria Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato (1483) and reappears famously in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (1532). In these poems – part of the Matter of France cycle of Charlemagne and his paladins – Angelica’s extraordinary beauty ensnares many knights, including Orlando (Roland) and his cousin Rinaldo, sparking rivalries and adventures. Ariosto’s narrative particularly highlights Angelica’s tumultuous journey: at one point she is stripped and chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster (a scene mirroring the myth of Andromeda) before being dramatically rescued by the valiant knight Ruggiero on his winged horse. Ultimately, however, Angelica chooses her own destiny. She falls in love with a humble Saracen soldier, Medoro, whom she nurses back to health, and she returns with him to her far-off Asian kingdom – an affair that drives the heartbroken Orlando to madness. This independent resolution (marrying outside the circle of Christian knights) made Angelica an emblem of feminine agency and romantic idealism in Renaissance literature. Her story remained popular in art and literature through the centuries, symbolizing the allure and elusiveness of love.

Kronberg’s Portrayal and Composition

In Julius Kronberg’s oil painting, Angelica is portrayed not in the throes of action but as a serenely self-possessed young woman. The composition is a half-length frontal portrait against a simple, warm-toned background. Angelica meets the viewer’s gaze directly with her large, luminous eyes and a faint, enigmatic smile. Her auburn hair is loosely draped by a dark band, framing a face rendered with smooth, delicate modeling. She wears a green gown decorated with subtle golden embroidery at the neckline, attire that hints at a Renaissance or exotic origin without specifying a particular scene. The backdrop is a rich deep red, a color that both complements the green of her garment and imbues the image with a romantic warmth. Kronberg’s handling of oil on panel is meticulous – the surface is finely blended and luminous, with soft glazes and gentle transitions that recall the finish of Old Master portraits. The lighting is even and caressing, creating a soft glow on Angelica’s skin and giving her an almost lifelike presence. This intimate and static presentation allows Angelica’s contemplative expression to become the focus, inviting the viewer to engage with her character and inner life.

Artistic Interpretation and Style

Kronberg’s interpretive choice to depict Angelica in a calm, introspective pose (rather than illustrating one of her dramatic ordeals) is telling. Instead of showing the princess in distress or in the company of her rescuers and lovers, he presents her in a timeless moment of repose. Angelica’s direct yet gentle gaze conveys a sense of quiet strength and dignity, which may be read as an allusion to her autonomous decision in the saga to follow her heart with Medoro. The painting’s tone is lyrical and nostalgic – the harmonious color palette of reds and emerald-greens and the elegant simplicity of the setting evoke the idealized world of Renaissance romance. In this way, Kronberg’s Angelica serves as both an homage to its literary source and a character study. The viewer, aware of Angelica’s story, might sense beneath her composed exterior the echoes of her adventures – the peril, passion, and resolve that define her narrative – yet the artwork remains deliberately focused on her beauty and calm expression. The result is a portrayal of Angelica as an almost archetypal romantic heroine: physically graceful, emotionally poised, and imbued with an air of poetic mystery.

Julius Kronberg’s Style and Oeuvre

Julius Kronberg was one of Sweden’s notable academic painters of the late 19th century, known for his historicist and decorative approach. Educated at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, and influenced by his studies in Munich and Rome, Kronberg often drew on mythological, biblical, and literary subjects for his paintings. Many of his major works feature dramatic heroines or exotic themes drawn from what he viewed as the “Orient” or antiquity – for example, his canvases Cleopatra’s Death (1883), David and Saul (1883), The Queen of Sheba (1888), and Hypatia (1889) all demonstrate his penchant for Eastern history and legend. Angelica fits well into this oeuvre of romantic and historical subjects. Like those works, it reflects the 19th-century fascination with the Renaissance and the exotic; Angelica, as a princess of Cathay in a Renaissance epic, would have appealed to Kronberg’s interest in opulent literary themes. However, unlike the grand, theatrical compositions for which Kronberg was renowned, Angelica is painted on a small, intimate scale (40.5 x 32 cm) and focuses on psychological nuance over spectacle. The painting showcases Kronberg’s academic technique and refined style: the brushwork is smooth and precise, the forms are idealized, and the colors are rich and saturated, recalling the influence of the French academic and late Romantic painters. Kronberg had also been impressed by the sumptuous style of Hans Makart during his time in Munich, and in Angelica one can sense a similar love of vivid color and idealized form. Even in this modest portrait, Kronberg achieves a sense of timeless elegance, turning a literary character into a vision of beauty that would resonate with his contemporary audience’s nostalgia for the Renaissance.

Provenance:
The painting was originally with Fritzes Kungliga Hofbokhandel (Fritze’s Royal Court Bookshop) in Stockholm, a prestigious bookseller to the Swedish royal household that also dealt in high-quality art publications and the sale of select artworks. It was later owned by the Swedish chemical engineer and inventor Arthur Ramén of Helsingborg and remained in his family by descent.