In the Footsteps of painter Richard Hall

Edward Hall, visiting card, undated Photo: Valokuvaamo (photographic studio) John Englund Source: Satakunta Museum Brother Edward Hall Richard Hall's older brother Edward was born on August 31, 1857, in Helsinki. According to church records, the family moved to Pori on December 19, 1859. From there, they moved to Helsinki in 1864 and possibly to London in 1867. The Hall family then moved to Stockholm around 1875. I discuss these times in more detail in my blog post about Richard Hall’s childhood . I have no information about where Edward Hall studied for his profession. Career In the 1880s, Edward Hall worked in Joensuu for Gustaf Cederberg & Co, a company that owned sawmills. From there, he moved to Noormarkku in the early 1890s to work for A. Ahlström Oy. Maarit Grahn's doctoral thesis, Family Business and Localism: Family Business and Locality: The historical heritage of A. Ahlström Corporation in Noormarkku (University of Turku, 2014), reveals Edward Hall's role dur...

  Richard Hall: Alexandrine Zélie Hall, 1910 Pencil on paper, Private collection Photo: Anni Saisto Photo added September 14, 2025  Mother Alexandrine Zélie Hall  If Richard Hall's father had a fascinating life story, the same can be said of his mother. Alexandrine Zélie Hall, née Cornetz, was born in Switzerland – how did she end up in Finland? The answer remains unclear for now, but here is what I have found out about her so far. From Switzerland to Finland According to her parish records, Alexandrine Hall was born in Neuchâtel on February 12, 1834. More precisely, she was probably from a place called Cortaillod, right next to Neuchâtel. This is stated in her obituaries, which were published in several newspapers 86 years later. The records of the Swedish-Finnish parish of Helsinki indicate that she originally used the name Zelie Alexandrine Cornetz. The church records also include the following note: "Moved from the Pohja parish on October 27, 1856, according to the t...

Huber's house at the corner of Yrjönkatu and Hallituskatu in Pori, Finland, photographed in 1898.  Photo: Edward Hall, Satakunta Museum The Hall family moved several times during Richard Hall's childhood. The key sources for this post are parish records and an interview Richard Hall gave to the New Suometar newspaper in 1909 apparently in Finnish. In the interview, he also spoke about his childhood years.  The most accurate information about the dates of the family's moves is available from parish registers, which record the dates of the moves. The parish registers are regional, so in this case I have requested the certificates from two parishes. The registers are heavily used by genealogists, and there is a charge for the certificates. EU privacy regulation GDPR does not apply to deceased persons. Early childhood in Pori Richard's older brother Edward was born on 31 August 1857, and the family moved to Pori on 19 December 1859. Richard was born five months later on 1...

  Jean-Paul Laurens: La Délivrance des emmurés de Carcassonne, 1879 (The delivery of immured, of Carcassonne) Öljy kankaalle, 430 x 350 cm Musee des Beaux-Arts de Carcassonne Lähde: Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 4.0 I have told about the travel grant Richard Hall received from the Swedish government in my blog post The Royal Medal . It enabled him to continue his studies in Paris, which was the center of European fine arts at the time. The situation regarding state-funded art education in France was similar to that in Sweden: teaching at the École des beaux-arts de Paris was considered old-fashioned, which made private art schools popular. The most famous schools included the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi. In addition, many artists took on private students. There was plenty of demand for teaching, as young artists traveled to Paris from many countries. For instance among Finnish artists, Akseli Gallen-Kallela studied at the Académie Julian and Helene Schjerfbeck at the ...

Victor Levasseur, Map of France, Atlas National Illustre, 1852 Source: Wikimedia Commons Places of residence 1883–1900 I have briefly described the stages of Richard Hall's life in my blog post The Forgotten Cosmopolitan . We know that after moving to France, he first lived in Paris and studied at private art schools. He then lived for six years in Brittany, in northwestern France. After the death of his wife, which is known to have occurred in 1891, he lived for eight months in a monastery in Nantes. However, it is not known exactly when he lived in these places. Addresses I used the Musée D’Orsay’s database on the Salons in my previous blog post, Memories of the Salons . In addition to that information, the database also contained Richard Hall’s addresses for the years when he had works on display at the Salons. The exception is 1888, for which no address is given. Furthermore, Hall did not have any works in the Salon in 1889, so there is no address information for that year eit...

La fille du cabaretier Source:  https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k110430p/f235.item In my previous blog post , I discussed the works by Richard Hall that were selected for exhibition at the Salons between 1883 and 1900. Hall recounted his memories of the Salons in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Uusi Suometar on October 24, 1909 . The interview reveals where some of the works exhibited at the Salons were purchased. In addition, information about the works can be found in the database maintained by the Musée D'Orsay. It contains titles of the works and artists presented at the salons. Some titles include the name of their owner at the time. This information helps me in my search for Hall's works. Interview with the newspaper Uusi Suometar Here are the artist's own views on the Salons. The interview was conducted in 1909 during the artist's visit to Finland: - I have heard that you were not as interested in the Paris art salons as you were in the high society...

Detail from the exhibition catalog of the Salon of 1889. Source: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k202497x/f7.item   After studying in Stockholm, Richard Hall moved to Paris. With a travel grant from the Swedish government, he continued his studies at private art schools. So far, I have found little source material on Hall's years in France, so let us first take a look at the works he exhibited at the Salons in Paris. At the time, it was the world's largest and most famous annual art exhibition, featuring thousands of paintings and sculptures. The Salon has its roots in the exhibitions organized by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) from 1667 onwards. In 1725, the salon was moved to the Louvre Museum, and from 1737 onwards, the exhibitions were open to the general public. Having a work exhibited at the Salon meant royal approval, which was the greatest possible merit for an artist at the time. The official name of the ...

  Peter Paul Rubens / his studio: The Three Graces with a Basket of Roses Oil on canvas, 11 x 64 cm Photo: Anna Danielsson / Nationalmuseum, CC-BY-SA In my blog post of 23 June 2025 , I wrote about the Rubens copy that Richard Hall enquired about in the summer of 1881. Correspondence preserved in the archives of the National Gallery revealed that it was a copy of Peter Paul Rubens's Three Graces, which had been on display at the Finnish Art Society and which the artist had not recovered. At the time, I said that I did not know exactly which painting it was, as Rubens painted several versions of the same subject. The Three Graces at the National Museum of Sweden While reading Maria Görts' doctoral thesis Det sköna i verklighetens värld: akademisk konstsyn i Sverige under senare delen av 1800-talet, 1999 (Beauty and the world of reality: Academic Aesthetic Attitudes in Sweden during the late Ninteeth Century), I came across a passage where she talks about painting copies as part ...

  Jenny Nyström: Gustav Vasa as a child in front of king Hans, 1881 Oil painting Kalmar county museum Photo: Wikimedia Commons In my previous blog post, I told about the royal medal Richard Hall won while studying at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. The theme of the history painting competition was Gustav Vasa as a child in front of King Hans (also known as King John), and the first prize was shared between Hall and Jenny Nyström (1854-1946). In this article I discuss the content of the winning works and the role of history painting in Sweden at that time. Jenny Nyström's winning work is discussed in the Konsthistoriepodden podcast in Swedish by Alexandra Fried and Alexandra Herlitz, which is the main source for this article. I have not yet found sources for Hall's version. The Finnish press apparently did not report Hall's victory, as the National Library's digital newspaper archive does not contain any mention of the prize. Maria Görts discusses the role of ...

Photograph of Richard Hall's painting Gustav Vasa as a child in front of King Hans, 1881. Photo: correspondence of Mauri R. Hall, Pori Art Museum archive   I have written about Richard Hall's time as a student in the blog post Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts . In it, he tells of winning the Royal Prize Medal in his final year of study. The medal was the highest state award for a graduating student. On the other hand, by the time the prize was awarded in 1881, there were already signs of protest among young artists against the old-fashioned way of teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts. The main source for this article is Maria Görts' doctoral thesis Det sköna i verklighetens värld: akademisk konstsyn i Sverige under senare delen av 1800-talet , 1999 ( Beauty and the world of reality: Academic Aesthetic Attitudes in Sweden during the late Ninteeth Century). Shared first prize The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts organised the Royal Medal competition in 1881. The theme wa...

  Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, model school in 1874. Engraving by H. Peterson in the Ny Illustrerad Tidning. Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Richard Hall was admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 15 in 1875. He studied there for six years, graduating in 1881. Hall's fellow students included artists who went on to have distinguished careers, such as Anders Zorn and Richard Bergh . In the mid-1880s, many of them were part of the Opponenterna group, which rose up against what it perceived as old-fashioned teaching at the academy. So far I have found a few records of Hall's time as a student: firstly, he mentions it in the personal interview I quoted earlier in the Uusi Suometar newspaper of 24. October 1909 . The 1902 edition of Nornan: Svensk kalender contains a chapter by Georg Nordensvan on the students of the Art Academy drawn by Anders Zorn.   Teaching at the Academy of Arts The Swedish Academy of Fine Arts has its roots in the Royal Academ...

How did Richard Hall's English father and Swiss-French mother come to live in Finland in the 19th century? Depending on the source, the details vary, but in any case, the story must begin with Hall's grandfather John Hall of Tredennick. The most comprehensive information about Richard Hall's family roots can be found in an article published in Finnish newspaper Satakunnan Kansa on 12 September 1937, written while the artist was still alive. The article was written under the pseudonym Arctoterrannus. The information in this post is based on that article unless otherwise stated. Grandfather John Hall of Tredennick The personal history of Grandfather Hall is described in the Finnish blog Kadonnutta aikaa (Lost Time). John Hall was born on 6 May 1785 in London and his family owned the Tredneck estate in Middlesex County, England. At some point in his life John Halll moved to St Petersburg, and later from there to Finland. According to geni.com , he had eight children in total...

    A view from the Ateneum's collection exhibition A Question of Time. On the left Gallen-Kallela's Démasquée, center Antell´s portrait by the same artist, on the right Hall's Odalisque. On top Charles-François Daubigny's The Rising Moon on the River Bank. While exploring the archives of the National Gallery, I also got to see Richard Hall's painting Odalisque. It was on display in the Ateneum's exhibition The Question of Time, in a section on the H. F. Antell collection. Among others, the well-known Démasquée by Akseli Gallen-Kallela from 1888 was hung in the same set. The collector Antell's order Herman Frithiof Antell (1847-1893) was born in Vaasa and trained as a doctor. During his lifetime, he amassed important collections of coins, artefacts and works of art with the help of a million-dollar inheritance from his father. From 1877 he had a permanent residence in Paris. Tuukka Talvio has written in Finnish a comprehensive and detailed biography of Antel...