Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
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Nicodemus Tessin the Younger
Sources Works Collections
Part Two
Stockholm, The National Museum, 2000-
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| Front view of Drottningholm Palace (private residence of the Swedish Royal family) built by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder and completed by the Younger Source: Wikimedia Commons |
The Traictè dela decoration interieure
In 1717, Tessin the Younger wrote the Traictè dela decoration interieure
(which was never printed). Without doubt, it is the most original and
interesting work among those he wrote. It's the artist himself to point out
that the topic of internal decoration is thoroughly analysed for the first time
in his writing.
In fact, it should be first mentioned that
the Traictè collects a series of writings
(all remained in manuscript) that had a very specific purpose: to promote the
culture and the image of his son Carl Gustaf, so that, after the father’s death,
he would inherit his prestigious position. It was already mentioned that Carl
Gustaf began his Grand Tour, starting with France, in 1714. A few months after,
his father handed him in Paris a manuscript of about forty pages, which he had
written on purpose, entitled "Observations
on both public and private houses, their strength, comfort and beauty, designed
respecting the climate and the economy of Sweden"; Nicodemus advised
the son to study carefully the treatise and to use it, whenever he would need
to make a good impression. However, this was not all: a few months later he
sent a second essay: the "Reflections
on the five orders of architecture, when it is necessary to place an order over
the other": also here the father’s suggestion was that the son would learn
everything by heart, and ponder how to do the best use of it.
The first occasion when Nicodemus mentioned
the Traictè is in a letter to his son
(who had moved to Rome in the meantime) dated 6 March 1717: “Forced into a
sedentary occupation by gout, he has decided to write on the heretofore
neglected topic of interior decoration so that he might take pleasure in
recalling his earlier travels and study, which Carl Gustaf’s are now
paralleling, and so that Carl Gustaf might complete and perfect the text on his
return, publish it under his own name, and thus advance his professional
reputation” [10]. Indeed, it is a perhaps annoying (as we would say today) father
supporting his son. The treatise, therefore, had a purely personal foundation.
However, Nicodemus realized that much time had passed since his recent travels
in Europe and asked the child to operate the necessary adjustment and
modernization of the text.
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| Overview of the Baroque Garden of Drottningholm Palace (project by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger) Source: Wikimedia Commons |
There is no doubt that, for the preparation
of Traictè, Tessin the Younger made
extensive use of travel notes drawn up between 1673 and 1677 and between 1687
and 1688. The treatise, however, is not simply the report of a Grand Tour and
does also not have any features of an art guide of one or more cities. In fact,
the editorial plan (after some initial second thoughts) is clearly outlined.
The work is divided into three parts. The first is dedicated to "unmovable
decorations": as such, Tessin means painted decorations (frescoes), or
sculpted parts of the building which are integrated in it and as such immovable
(for example, a loggia, or the vault of a salon). The second part inaugurates
the discussion of movable decorations: here are included paintings and
sculptures that can be moved from one location to another. Finally, the third
section (the most original one) includes all the remaining movable materials,
where tapestries and textile works in general make the lion's share; but it
also encompasses thrones, beds (a subject which is particularly dear to the
author) or any other type of furniture.
The fundamental difference with respect to
an art guide consists precisely in the fact that the room of the same palace
can be considered three times in the treatise: in the first part, for the
frescoes which displays; in the second one, for the sculptures that are to be found
there; and finally in the third part, for the objects (such as the mirrors)
that it contains.
Accounts on Swedish palaces are a very
small minority. In the first part, they are limited to the new Stockholm Royal
Palace (or rather, the wing that faces north, built in 1696) which showed its
full magnificence in the Gallery of Charles XI, and to the Drottningholm residence
as well as the palace/home of Tessin himself. In general, there is full
awareness that the Italian and French traditions are absolutely unattainable,
with regard to both "unmovable decorations" and paintings and
sculptures. Therefore, Sweden could aspire to a role worthy of its (alleged) grandeur
only in the manufactured goods that are examined in the third part, provided
the sovereign (i.e. the absolute monarch) were educated in the arts and design
already as a young man and that therefore the right artistic policies were
promoted by him.
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| Royal Palace of Stockholm - Charles XI's Gallery (project by Nicodemus Tessin the Younger) Source: Wikimedia Commons |
But what strucks most the reader accustomed
to browse other artistic treatises or read the guides of the time is the total
change of perspective: there is no mention of art theory; there is no quibbling
about ideal beauty, on the imitation of nature, and so on: painting is
considered as an ornament (in the first part, if it is fresco; in the second
one, if it is on canvas) which contributes to the magnificence that is the
ultimate goal of Tessin’s baroque world. The Triumph of Divine Providence by Pietro da Cortona, for example, is exclusively
considered as unmovable decoration of Palazzo Barberini, and not for its style. Art objects, furniture, rooms help to account for the
magnificence of the sovereign.
We do not know why Carl Gustaf did not took
up the work of his father, in order to update it, to make its own and to print
it (as was the express wish of Nicodemus the Younger). In his commentary Bo
Vahlne points out that a few months after the completion of the writing, the
artist's son was already appointed Keeper of the Royal Properties [11]. It is
possible, in sum, that there was no need anymore and that therefore there was no
urgency to publish. It's a shame: “The treatise was ceratinly planned to be
more than an admonitory instrument to guide Carl Gustaf in the great project of
the completion of the Stockholm Royal Palace. The treatise was intended for a
European readership […] The Traictè
also was an argument for the completion of the less than half-finished royal
palace, which Nicodemus had designed not only as a symbol of the prestige of
the Swedish crown, but also as a representation of a new modern Swedish culture
linked closely to that of contemporary Europe" [12]
Architectural Drawings I – Ecclesiastical and Garden Architecture
The passage from the transcript of Tessin’s
writings to the reasoned cataloguing of his heritage of drawings is the aspect
that seems to have sent a blow to the publishing project that we are examining.
Only one of three planned volumes was published: the one dedicated to designs
for ecclesiastical buildings and garden architecture. The difficulties that were
encountered are clearly spelled out: first of all, it was decided to discard the
prints (which are tens of thousands) from the catalogue raisonné. It would have been necessary, first of all, to
reconstruct what pieces came from the collection of Nicodemus the Younger. Not
an easy task. We know, first of all, that the collection (now kept largely in
the National Museum) was inaugurated by Nicodemus the Elder (albeit not with an
excessive size); then his son succeeded him. The catalogue of 1712 - as
mentioned above - does not allow to define with certainty what designs were in
the hands of Tessin the Younger at the time: “[The Catalogue provides some help, although it generally gives far more
detailed information about books and engravings than about drawings. The latter
are tipically catalogued in collective entries, such as “37. Desseins des
diverses Chapelles, la plus part inventeès pour des Sepoltures, et en partie executes”.
Sometimes, the description is more
helpful, as in “5. Tombeaux de Rome de l’ordonance de
Ch. L. Bernin”, and in some cases, where Tessin may have considered the drawing
of a particular interest of value, there are entries for single items, for
example “Tombeau de Mr. Colbert Ministre de Fr. Inventè par Le Brun”. The subject
of a drawing, and the artist or architect who designed the building or monument
represented, receive much more attention than the draughtsman who is almost
never named, unless internationally famous. Nicodemus Tessin’s predominant
interest in prints and lack of serious consideration for draughtsmanship are
reflected by the fact that the names of authors and the titles of sets of
engravings are quoted in full, whereas “92 Pieces de Leonard da Vinci, Raphael,
Annibal Carrache, Domeniquain, Polidore, Andrè del Sarto, Pietro Testa…” and
other master draughtsmen are lumped together in a single entry [13]
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| The facade of Tessin Palace taken from Suecia antiqua et hodierna 1702 Source: Wikimedia Commons |
It must also be taken into account that the collection of Nicodemus the Younger went on until the year of his death (1728) also thanks to the work of his son Carl Gustaf. Indeed, we must be recognisant to the latter if we can look through what is (conventionally) called the 1730 Catalogue, a more detailed inventory of 4998 drawings (actually written in 1732) divided into 31 "drawers" (Tiroirs) and bound in six volumes. Each "drawer" contains between 2 and 5 "notebooks", each of which, in turn, includes a number of sheets varying between 14 and 140. To understand the difference between catalogue of 1712 and of 1730, it is sufficient to bear in mind that in the first the drawings of sacred architecture are 282, while in the second are 379.
In principle, the aim of the curators is to
create a catalogue raisonné that
recreates the situation of the 1730 Catalogue. This is because the death of
Tessin the Younger is 1728 and – to simplify –it may be assumed that Carl
Gustaf acted until that date in the father’s name. But then the difficulties are
beginning. In fact Carl Gustaf, who also added a political curriculum to his
career as an architect, becoming ambassador of Sweden in France, made in turn many
purchases in France, before ruining completely himself financially to mantain
the standard of living of Versailles. In particular, it stands out the purchase
he made in Paris exactly in 1741, when he was ambassador, at the auction which
dispersed the famous collection of Pierre Crozat (who had died the year
before). In fact only nine years after, Carl Gustaf - now bankrupt - was forced
to sell most of his collection (he kept something for himself) to King Adolf
Fredrik of Sweden. On the death of Adolf, the son Gustav III, decided in 1775
that the entire collection would pass into state hands. The drawings were then
transferred to the National Museum of Sweden where, however, were merged (or
confused) with those of other collections received in the following years, starting
with the one of Carl Hårleman (successor of Carl Gustaf as royal architect). So
I believe anyone may appreciate the difficulties which the curators had to face.
In this volume are displayed 550 drawings
from the collection of Tessin the Younger. “The selections is based on a
reconstruction of Tiroirs 13-16 and
29-31 of the Catalogue 1730. The subject matter covered is ecclesiastical
architecture and church decorations (Tiroirs
13-16 amd 31:1-2) and garden architecture, including designs for pavilions
and related technical constructions (Tiroirs
29-30 and 31:3)” [14].
As stated from the outset, the two volumes
that were ought to include the other designs in the collection are still
unpublished.
NOTES
[10] See Traictè dela decoration interieure 1717, p. 43.
[11] Idem, p. 39.
[12] Idem, p. 39
[13] See Architectural Drawings I - Ecclesiastical and Garden Architecture. Pp. 13-14.
[14] Idem, p. 26.
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