Malmö 1718 - Paris 1793

Alexander Roslin, born into the family of a town doctor in Malmö, was driven to an artist's career via naval architecture. In 1736, he became a pupil in the studio of Schröder, the court painter in Stockholm. In the early 1740s, Roslin returned to Skåne and started painting portraits of the local gentry. Roslin's international success was made possible through one of his customers, Count Nils Julius Lewenhaupt, who arranged an invitation for Roslin to paint at the court of the Margrave in Bayreuth in 1744.

The works of Roslin's early Swedish period are not examples of exceptional talent as such. They are professional and strongly composed but rather conventional and stiff works in the spirit of Schröder. Once abroad, Roslin came out of his shell, absorbing new influences and developing rapidly into a notable artist.

Roslin was well-liked in Bayreuth, but after two years he moved to Italy. While in Naples in 1750, he was invited to the court of Parma. The portrait of Don Filippo, the Duke of Parma, shows that Roslin had developed into an accomplished portraitist. The Duchess of Parma was Louise Elisabeth, Princess of France and daughter of King Louis XV. With a letter of introduction from the Duchess, Roslin arrived in Paris in 1752.

Roslin was received in the highest circles and his portraits soon attracted attention among connoisseurs for their brilliant virtuosity that stood out even in the merciless Parisian competition. As early as in 1753, Roslin was elected to the prestigious Académie and he decided to settle down in Paris. Gradually, he became one of the most esteemed portrait painters of the aristocracy, spending year after year refining the nuances of his extremely polished painting technique.

Roslin would not have been such a fascinating portrait painter if his skill had limited itself to a mere duplication of silky perfection. He had a rare ability to bring out the true personality of his models and still comply with all the conventions of a salon portrait. In Roslin's portraits, delicacy and technical virtuosity are guided by an exact and in certain ways incorruptible observation.

Alexander Roslin generously helped and supported the young Swedish artists that had sought their way to Paris. Roslin Suédois, as he used to sign his works, maintained contact with his home country in several ways. The Swedish gentry visiting Paris used to have their portraits painted by him. Likewise the crown prince, the future Gustav III, who invited Roslin to Sweden to paint members of the royal family.

Roslin arrived in Stockholm in 1774 and in the following year, he travelled at the invitation of Catherine the Great, via Finland, to St Petersburg where he spent two glorious and productive years. He returned to Paris, with stops in Warsaw and Vienna along the way, to continue his intensive work tempo for another ten years. At the end of the 1780s, Roslin's health began to deteriorate and the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 gave the gentry other things to think about apart from their portraits. Nonetheless, the few works Roslin painted during the revolution show an unwavering quality and vision.

Alexander died in his chambers at the Louvre in 1793.