Freja Seeking Her Husband
Freja Seeking Her Husband by Swedish Painter Nils Jakob Olsson Blommér (1816 – 1853); who was known for his works on Norse mythology and Swedish folklore.
Based on Norse mythology the painting depicts the Norse goddess Freja, riding a chariot of sorts that is being pulled through the clouds in the sky by two cats in search of her husband, the god Odr.
As she flies through the ski she has flying around her and sitting on the chariot seven female and male cherubs that are keeping her company during her quest.
In Norse mythology, Freja is known as the goddess of love, fertility, war, and death; and is also associated with wealth, sexuality, and beauty.
The god Odr, her husband, is often seen as a mysterious figure who travels the world and is rarely present in Asgard, the home of the gods.
This is a remastered digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image that is available for purchase online as a rolled canvas print.
Information Below Derived From Germanicmythology.com and Wikipedia.org
Nils Jakob Olsson Blommér was born on 12 June 1816, in the village of Blommeröd, Scania, Sweden, to schoolteacher Anders Olsson and Elsa Jakobsdotter.
At the age of 20, Blommér began his career as an apprentice to the Swedish painters Sven Bremberg, Sven Olsson in Lund and then later received further instruction in drawing from the academy master Magnus Körner (1808 – 1864).
Then in 1839, he moved to Stockholm, where he enrolled at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and adopted the name Blommér; and quickly gained recognition for his talent, winning several medals including the Ribbingska medal in 1842, the Tessinska medal in 1843, the Duke Medal in 1844, and the Chancellor’s medal in 1845 and 1846.
In 1847, he was awarded a large grant to travel abroad, which he used to study in Germany with the prominent romantic painter Moritz von Schwind (1804 – 1871).
He also became a leading figure in Stockholm’s artistic community, working with the Artist’s Guild to create a “nobler national art.”
Blommér was best known for his paintings of figures from folk tales and folk songs, drawing inspiration from Swedish folklore motifs and nature, which he believed had an inherent soul symbolized by folk characters.
He later came under the influence of the Neo-Romantics, such as Erik Gustaf Geijer, Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, and Erik Johan Stagnelius.
In 1852, Blommér moved to Italy, where he married Edla Gustafva Jansson (Edla Blommér 1817 – 1908), also a painter. However, he fell ill with pneumonia soon after, and passed away in Rome from related complications in early 1853.
Despite his relatively short life, Blommér left a significant mark on Swedish art, particularly in his depictions of folkloric figures and his contributions to the “nobler national art” movement.
