Photos from the Instagram of Håkan Groth, a swedish born antique dealer and expert, author and photographer.
Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Audience Room was restored and partly reconstructed in the 1960’s as each generation who had lived here had changed the rooms appearance. It is now a ‘hybrid’ incorporating elements from both the King and Queen’s Audience Rooms in this appartements.
The five tapestries with motifs from the story of Cupid and Psyche were commissioned in 1745 by Carl Hårleman from the Beauvais Manufactory after designs by François Boucher. They were made for the King’s Audience Room, but the decision was made to install them here as the King’s room no longer exists. The large throne, one of a pair, were designed by Jean Eric Rehn for the coronation of King Adolph Fredric and Queen Lovisa Ulrica in 1751. The intention was for them to be used in the audience rooms, but two smaller thrones came to be used instead. The carpet was specially designed and woven in the Savonnerie technique in Stockholm by Pehr Hilleström. Hilleström has been sent to Paris to learn to weave at the Savonnerie Factory and managed to weave five ceremonial carpets for the Royal Palace before he decided to become a genre painter instead, for which is now mostly known.
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One of two overdoors in Lovisa Ulrica’s Audience Room. The bird painting by a French artist was one of four purchased by the architect Carl Hårleman in Paris for the decoration of the Royal Palace and originally placed in Gustaf III’s Dining Room (now the Council Room). They symbolise the Four Continents, and this is Europe. Many of these decorative paintings have been moved around and it is often difficult to know where they were originally placed.
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The throne canopy was woven in Stockholm by the French weaver Pierre Dury after a design by Johan Pasch. This canopy was woven for the King’s Audience Room and designed to work with the tapestries The gilt carved corniche, the side curtains, the deep gold fringe and the ostrich plumes are missing, so it would have been more sumptuous originally.
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Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Anteroom as it is today. It isn’t known exactly how it looked in 1754 when the Royal Family moved in. The doors, overdoors with paintings by Charles-Jean Natoire, the cornice, the ceiling decorations and the mirror between the windows are original. The room was painted blue and there was blue silk damask with golden crowns covering the walls. Carl XV redecorated this room, a new door was inserted in the centre of the inner wall, the panelling was replaced with the present low one and four large mirrors were added. He also hung two of the Beauvais tapestries depicting Carl XI’s battles in the war against Denmark.
The large painting on the inner wall (one of a pair) is by Bassano and hung in Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Apartment in 1754. The other smaller Italian paintings belong to the Galliera Collection that was part of Queen Josephina’s property. She was made Duchess of Galliera (and Princess of Bologna) when she born in 1807 by Emperor Napoleon. She eventually sold the Duchy but had the art collection sent to Sweden.
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Details of the doors in the Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Anteroom.
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One of the overdoors with paintings with pastoral scenes by Charles-Jean Natoire dated 1748.
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An unusual decoration in the Queen’s Anteroom. The head of Minerva/Athena (with an owl on her head), is seen in the cornice above the mirror. On the ceiling is a spider’s web with a spider in the centre. This alludes to the story described by the Roman poet Ovid in his ‘Metamorphosis’ of a shepherd ‘s daughter, Arachne, a mortal and a talented weaver who challenged Athena to a weaving contest. According to the legend, Arachne won, but Athena punished her for challenging the Gods and turned her into a spider. Hence the term ‘arachnophobia’. The winged dragons was one of the architect Carl Hårleman’s favourite motifs.
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This commode in the Queen’s Anteroom was made by the ébéniste Samuel Pasch in 1744 for Lovisa Ulrica’s Bedroom at the Royal Family’s temporary residence in the Wrangel Palace.
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One the gilt wood folding stools made in 1754 for the Royal Palace. The first one was carved by the French sculptor Jean-Gaspard Caillon, which then the other were made with this as a model for the other craftsmen, in all, eighteen were made for the Queen and twelve for the King. They were moved between the Anterooms and the Audience Rooms as they were needed. The textile covers were loose and changed according to which room they were placed. It was a ceremonial stool that only the ladies with the highest rank had the right to sit on during court ceremonies.
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Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Dining Room was also the Queen’s First Anteroom and was as such also used for other different occasions. It was designed by Carl Hårleman who purchased the large hunting scene and the four overdoor paintings for this room directly from the artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry in Paris.
The room was originally painted white with gilded decorations, but when it was restored in 1960, it was decided to keep the oak panels stripped of their paint and gilding. New green silk damask, after a design by Jean Eric Rehn, was woven to cover the walls and chairs.
The room had been furnished in the Empire style 1822, which suited Queen Désirée perfectly when she move in here the following year. After her death in 1860 her grandson Carl XV redecorated the room in the Rococo style. In 1883 Oscar II had the panelling stripped of its paint as fashion dictated then that a dining room had to be oak panelled. Oscar also had the cornice and ceiling decorated as it is now.
The five crystal chandeliers in Louis XV style was hung in here by Carl XV, and in 1960 it was decided to keep them as it was considered they well suited the room. The set of dining chairs are of the model that were made in a large number (there were 28 in here) for the King and Queen’s dining rooms in the mid-18th century. The chairs were painted yellow then, only the chairs reserved for the royals were gilded. There is a marble fireplace between the windows, but originally there was also a tiled stove decorated in blue and white standing in a shallow niche where the clock is now hanging between the doors. This dining room was used daily by the Royal Family. The King’s Dining Room on the opposite corner of this floor was only used for formal occasions.
Today the room is frequently used by the King and the Royal Family for different functions.
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One of the four overdoors symbolising the Four Elements painted by Jean-Baptist Oudry and purchased in 1739 for this room. Here is ‘Air’.
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Details of the finely carved oak pilasters in Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Dining Room. The larger pilasters in the room are decorated with hunting trophies.
The third photo is of a narrow pilaster of a model in the window recesses with King Fredric I’s monogram. It is easy to forget that the palace was being decorated for him. But he died in 1751, three years before it was ready for the Royal Family to move in.
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One of a pair of Rococo console tables in the Dining Room. They were made for Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Apartment, but they were placed in her bedroom originally.
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One of a pair of giltwood Rococo armchairs in Queen Lovisa Ulrica’s Dining Room that were used by the King and Queen. They are upholstered by the same silk designed by Jean Eric Rehn that is covering the walls. The armchair is standing in front of the central window and the panel has a join in it as it can be folded out and turned it into a steps allowing access on to the roof of the northeast palace wing. Oscar II created a walkway around the wing so he could go out and walk around for exercise. The views of Stockholm from there are breathtaking.
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A portrait of Queen Lovisa Ulrica in her coronation robes painted by the French born Prussian Court Painter Antoine Pesne (1683-1757).
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