The 19th century – the Dalecarlia painters in Hälsingland
Kerstin Sinha, Ljusdalsbygdens Museum

When the photographer and local historian Hilding Mickelsson went cycling past a farm in Fly in Tronö in 1966, an old farm building with remarkable paintings on a mudwashed wall was just being taken down. He was of course allowed to help take them down most carefully, but before that, he had time to photograph the room. "Anno 1794. The painteres from Ovansjö", was written over the door of the room.

From the mid-1770s, painters from Dalecarlia, the province to the west of Hälsingland, had begun to decorate the walls of farms in e g the parish of Ovansjö, in the province of Gästrikland, directly south of Hälsingland. The Fly interior (above) shows how they have begun their progress into Hälsingland. During the 19th century they almost took over the walls of Hälsingland, with their dazzling colours and lively figures among tall buildings and swaying trees. In passing, they invented the Kurbits, their transformation of the bulging Baroque urn out of which Hälsingland painters of previous eras had let luxuriant leaves, flowers and fruits sprout all over their festive halls.

Later on in the 19th century, better access to paper allowed the painters to paint their pictures at home in Dalecarlia, then roll them up and wander off and sell them in the farms of Hälsingland.

Here, Hilding Mickelsson, in July of 1968, has photographed Gösta Nilsson in his farmyard with 13 of the 19 paintings just found in his attic in Finnfara in the parish of Bollnäs, central Hälsingland. These were probably a supply of paintings stowed away in the 1820s by the Rättvik painter Bolik Hans Hansson, forgotten for some reason, which had once again come to the light of day.

In the row of Finnfara paintings nearest the camera we see this colourful picture, with its lightly sketched trees, its town houses and that elegant king on his horse under the flourishing kurbits – all so typical of the Dalecarlia painters.

In his 1996 article on the Dalecarlia painters in the journal Hälsingerunor, Roland Andersson identified over 90 known painters who went off on working trips to various parts of Sweden and Norway. But most wandered over to Hälsingland, which was both rich and nearby, and had a long tradition of loving pictures.

Famous among these painters are "Knutes' Boys", i.e the eight sons and grandsons of Knutes Olof ErsSon (1780-1849) in Lisselskog in the parish of Rättvik in Dalecarlia. Their paintings can be found from the province of Västmanland in the south to Härjedalen in the north, but most are in Hälsingland. Some of the "Knutes' Boys" also settled in Hälsingland, for example Knutes' Olof Larsson (1829-1908) who in 1861 registered with his family in Färila. A few years later, he moved to Ljusdal and took the name Cedermark.

When people in the plains villages started to buy factory-made wallpaper in town, the farmers of the western, forested areas of Färila still preferred Cedermark´s bright and detailed pictures of soldiers, steamboats and grand buildings on their walls. Eventually, however, he had to turn to painting roller blinds, a career comedown that he shared with other Dalecarlia painters.

But even if the Dalecarlia masters came to decorate most of the Hälsingland cottage walls in the 19th century, there were also Hälsingland natives who produced wondrous works: Anders Ädel for example. His elegant, characteristic flowers and garlands are today to be found on buckets and sleighs, on cupboards, hat chests, and harness, and on lovely fresh walls. Maj-Britt Andersson tells his story in her book "Allmogemålaren Anders Ädel".

You will also find some typical Ädel paintings in the section about wall paintings preserved on an old farm in Ljusdal.

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