In the Footsteps of painter Richard Hall

Overview of the interior of the Palace of Fine Arts, 1889. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris  Photo: Wikimedia Commons World expos (Exposition Universelle) had been held since 1851. They showcased new technical inventions, construction, science, culture, and art, among other things. Countries and companies participated in the exhibitions. The 1889 World expo was held in Paris. It was open from May 6 to October 31, 1889. There were over 61,000 exhibitors and more than 32 million visitors. Large exhibition halls were built for the event using the latest construction techniques of the time. World expos were mega-events of their time, where new ideas and inventions spread – after all, this was long before the advent of television and the Internet. Richard Hall participated in the world expo in the section presenting Swedish art. His friend from his student days, Richard Bergh, was the exhibition's commissioner. This explains Hall's participation, even though he had been living in...

Philip Tassier: Le Pouldu: farmyard, cirka 1910 Source: Wikimedia Commons Richard Hall has reported that he lived in Brittany for six years. This was probably between 1887 or 1888 and 1893, as I wrote in my previous blog post . Apparently, Hall and his family lived in Le Pouldu for most of that time. It is a small village by the sea on the southern coast of Brittany, southeast of Quimper. Hall's move was part of a larger trend: at that time, artists were flocking to Brittany. It was considered to have an authentic, distinctive culture and picturesque landscapes. My source material includes the publication Taiteilijoiden Bretagne 1800-luvun lopussa (Artists in Brittany at the End of the 19th Century, 1998) by the Akseli Gallen-Kallela Museum, as well as two books published in France about Nordic artists in Brittany: Artistes finlandais en Bretagne 1880-1890 (1990) and Échappées nordiques: Scandinavian and Finnish Artists in France 1870-1914 (2008). These are the only recent book...

Richard Bergh: Den lille krymplingen / Pojke från Concarneau, 1881 (A Little Crippled / Boy from Concarneau) Oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm Nationalmuseum Photo: Cecilia Heisser, Nationalmuseum, Sweden As I mentioned in my blog post on Laurens and Benjamin-Constant , Richard Hall's postgraduate studies in Paris remain shrouded in mystery. The Swedish government's travel grant of 3,000 kronor was intended to cover two years of postgraduate studies. Hall moved to Paris in the fall of 1881, so based on that, we can calculate that the grant lasted until the fall of 1883. After that, he had to trade his studies and freer lifestyle for earning a living by selling his paintings. We also know that Hall married his Swiss cousin Julie Cornetz in 1881. In addition, he has said that for a few years he shared a studio with his fellow student from Stockholm, Richard Bergh, who was a good friend of his. In the 1880s, Nordic artists formed a close-knit artist colony in Paris. I have not yet found ...

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...

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 transfer certificate/announcement certificate. Accompanied by a certificate from Repulique & Canton de Neuchatel, dated 13 August 1856...

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 ...