Landscape painting - Sweden - Frederick I Period - Early 1700s - Oil on canvas - Cream-colored lacquered frame.

Swedish oil on canvas from the early 18th Century, Era of Frederick I, a rather dynamic and active sovereign: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_I_di_Svezia.

Strange size and shape for this painting, you say. We reply that in all likelihood, it was born as an overdoor, but to be reinvented as one sees fit, even in a corridor.

The frame, original and lacquered in a thick cream color, given the rounded shape in the upper corners, is a further indication that the painting was created to be placed above a door. But why put a painting on a door? Consider that the houses of the past had very high ceilings and above the passages there were often empty spaces that the eye perceived as "incomplete"; moreover, the taste of the early Eighteenth Century, coming from the baroque maximalism, tried to make itself more minimal (mission accomplished towards the end of the century, with that linear and clean style that was Louis XVI) but it suffered, anyway, a bit of horror vacui and everything had to overflow with trappings.

The proposed painting depicts a Nordic landscape, delightful with those little boats in the background sailing on the sea.

And in the lower left, close to the castle, a figure with a hat and a cane sits admiring the landscape, while his dog admires him.

The painting is a bit without patina on the right, but still legible and keeps its charm intact. Original lacquer frame with wear, but in general good condition.

The measures are frame included.