Johan Fredrik Höckert

Who was Johan Fredrik Höckert?

Johan Fredrik Höckert was a well-known Swedish artist from Jönköping known for his colorful, dramatic oil paintings depicting historical events. He is one of the most famous nineteenth-century painters in Sweden, and one of the painters most often associated with Swedish national romanticism.

Höckert studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts from 1844 to 1845, and at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1846 to 1849. During the summer of 1850, he traveled throughout Lapland in the northern parts of Sweden. The scenery in this area became the inspiration for many of Höckert's upcoming paintings.

After moving to Paris in 1851, Höckert made his first painting that gained attention from a larger audience, Drottning Kristina och Monaldeschi. It was awarded with a mention honorable at the Paris Salon in 1853. Höckert rose to fame two years later, in 1855, with Gudstjänst i Lövmokks fjällkapell. It was put on display at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris and was later bought by Napoleon III of France. At this time, Höckert became recognized as one of Sweden's foremost figure painters.