Pehr Hilleström

Who was Pehr Hilleström?

Pehr Hilleström, was a Swedish artist and from 1794 a professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. He became its director in 1810.

He produced numerous paintings of mostly women and children performing various daily tasks inside upper- and middle-class homes in Stockholm. Dresses and furniture were painted exactly the way they looked and provide a valuable source of information about what life was like in those days. In addition to this he painted craftsmen in action at mills and other early industrial workplaces. Between 1757 and 1772 he worked as a master tapestry weaver, after learning the trade in France.