Oil on board - Sweden - Signed Olle Hjortzberg - Dated 1928.

Oil on board from Sweden, signed Olle Hjortzberg and dated 1928 on the top right.

Beautiful subject for this oil on board depicting, with an almost photographic glimpse, an alchemist's laboratory: this large leather tome, of ancient taste, with closing tabs and whose perspective gives dynamism to the painting, is placed in the foreground. Above two jars always in neutral tones, but it is the background that adds the color: a pair of stills, one of which contains a blue powder (lapislazuli ?!) and the draped fabric on the right and the white tulips on the left ... In short, a composition and an arrangement of the volumes that makes us understand the author's skill.

And, indeed, the mythical Olle (or more formally, Gustav Olof) is quite well known in his homeland, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olle_Hjortzberg

Beautiful size, exceptional conditions, mounted in a non-original, but charming frame, lacquered in red and outlined in gilded wood.

Measures are with frame.