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Michael Dahl was a Swedish portrait-painter who lived and worked in England most of his career where he also died. He is considered one of the most internationally known Swedish painters of his time. He painted some members of royal families such as Queen Anne of Great Britain, Prince George of Denmark and Christina, Queen of Sweden (whom actually had abdicated).

= Childhood = Michael Dahl was born in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm, in either 1656 or 1659, though most of the sources point to the year of 1659. His mother, Catarina Dahl, is assumed to have done many silent sacrifices to give Michael the opportunity of getting a good education, so that his talent was not to be wasted. According to letters written by Michael from Rome to his mother back in Sweden, she had raised him and his sister in an old-fashioned way and in the spirit of Christianity.

= First studies = At the age of at least 15 years, Dahl had to decide where he was going to study art, though it wasn't much of a choice. The only options in Sweden at the time were becoming an apprentice in the Painters' Guild or joining the Martin Hannibal and David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl group.

Michael Dahl received his first lessons in art in 1674 from the Hungarian-born drawing-master Martin Hannibal, who had been requested to come to Sweden from Italy by the prominent Swedish painter David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl to aid him in the foundation of a portrait academy and teach students and amateurs in the first elements of painting. The Hannibal and Ehrenstrahl group consisted of a handful of students who were taught by Martin Hannibal and David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl. Since there were two teachers, the group was divided. According to the book about Michael Dahl and the Swedish school of painting by Wilhelm Nisser, the students were first to be under the leadership of Hannibal to learn the basics of painting, and if they were of skill then they had the chance of being picked out to continue their study, though this time with Ehrenstrahl as the teacher. This would suggest that Ehrenstrahl was a better painter than Hannibal, but this will probably never be confirmed due to the difficulties of estimating Hannibal's actual talent.

The only competition of the same league as the Hannibal and Ehrenstrahl group, was Martin Meytens the Elder, who didn't settle in Stockholm until as late as 1679 and was therefor not an option for Dahl in the mid-seventies. The Painters' Guild wasn't an option for Dahl either, due to its lack of contemporary well-known artists as members. Thus Michael Dahl started to study in the Hannibal and Ehrenstrahl group in 1674. Though it isn't fully confirmed, there are assumptions that the teaching Dahl received from Hannibal was finished before they ever had permission from the authorities in Sweden to open a portrait academy. After his time with Hannibal as the teacher, Dahl was one of the students who were allowed to continue in the group, but now with Ehrenstrahl as the teacher. From this fact it is easy to tell that Hannibal and Ehrenstrahl were pleased with Dahl as a student in their group. In the group there were mainly students of German origin and the ones that studied contemporary with Dahl were Ludvig Weyandt, David von Krafft, David Richter the Elder, Hans Georg Mϋller, Andreas von Behn and Erik Utterhielm.

= Travels =

England
On the 30th of July 1682, Dahl was issued a passport to be able to travel throughout Europe for the sake of his studies. His first destination on this educational journey was the capital of the British empire, London. He was brought there by an English merchant called "Sowter", though his name may vary. It is probable that it was through this man that Dahl came in contact with the skilled engraver and painter Robert White. The earliest trace of Dahl's activity in England is a portrait of Samuel Clarke, which he copied from White's engraving the same year as it was made. White took Dahl under his wing and showed him the ropes in the world of painting in London. As a token of gratitude, Dahl aided White with valuable ideas when it came to forming an engraving of the contemporary king of Sweden, Charles XI. This was possible due to all the Royal paintings Dahl had observed back in the studio of Ehrenstrahl. White helped Dahl expand his network in London and he soon came in contact with the man who is probably responsible for the greatest impact on his development - Godfrey Kneller.

Godfrey showed Dahl what the public really wanted from them, the artists, and how they were going to get paid for their work. His studio was more to be described as a factory than a studio if it was to be compared with David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl's, which Wilhelm Nisser explains in the book about Michael Dahl as "Ehrenstrahl's monopoly of glorifying Swedish Royalty". In this "factory" of Kneller's, Dahl both studied and made a living. A man who did the same was Henry Tilson whom Dahl became acquainted with. Henry was from a highly respected family and had earlier studied under Sir Peter Lely, a painter of the Court. He was considered one of the most promising painters of Peter's pupils. Dahl and Tilson became close allies when studying and working together in Kneller's studio and they started to plan a journey around Europe to expand their studies beyond the borders of England. They were to go to Paris, Venice and Rome.

France
Michael Dahl left the city of London for Paris, but he was to return to it later on in his life. Because of too little documentation it is impossible to determine when they went, but it is known that they were still working in Paris in April 1685. Paris at that time was a common refuge for Swedish travelers. Dahl came in contact with some of them such as the engraver Raimund Faltz and the Swedish soldier Carl Johan Königsmarck whom had his portrait painted by Dahl. Like many of the younger generation of French painters, Dahl and Tilson decided to go to the land beneath the Alps.



Italy
In Italy they first went to the city of the lagoons, Venice. It is unknown how long they stayed there but it can't have been long due to their arrival in Rome already the same year. At that time, the Swedish queen Christina was living in Rome. She had abdicated from the throne of Sweden and converted over to the Roman Catholic Church. Even though she wasn't queen anymore she still had a strong bond to Sweden at it's people and was helpful when it came to assisting Swedish artists in the city. Therefor the first thing Dahl did upon his arrival in Rome was to seek an audience with her. He was able to get the audience, but Christina was only a link to the higher powers in the city such as the Pope so to get the assistance Dahl needed from Christina he had to convert to the Roman Catholic Church as she had done. After some persuasion he eventually did, but the promises which were undoubtedly made to him were not withheld. At several occasions, Christina let Dahl paint her portrait and she was able to establish an opportunity for Dahl to show a specimen of his work to Pope Innocent XI. The Pope enjoyed it and Dahl was awarded a gold medal. Dahl was not the only artist Christina was able to convert. David Richter the Elder who Dahl had studied with at Ehrenstrahl's, was converted when he visited Rome a few years earlier, in 1679.

Dahl had now been traveling for over five years and his purse was getting thin. It was at this time that he wrote the letter to his mother which has earlier been referred to. The letter is dated 6th October 1687 and in this letter he expresses his strong will of getting home, but that the conditions in Sweden are too poor due to the Swedish Resumption/Patents act which restricted all possibilities of a career in Sweden for Dahl. Christina seems to have given her consent, as a passport for a journey Rome-London was issued on the 29th October to Henry Tilson, just over three weeks after Dahl wrote the letter to his mother. In November the same year two other painters, Burchardt Precht and Nicodemus Tessin the Younger came to study in Rome and they do not appear to have been in any contact with neither Dahl nor Tilson so presumably they left immediately after the passport had been issued.

=Back in England= After the departure from Rome, the two painters were to be found in Frankfurt in July 1688 before getting over the canal to England. In Frankfurt, Dahl met the young Swedish nobleman Claes Ekeblad of Stola who payed him 1 ducat to paint for him for three weeks. In his diary he referees to Dahl as a "famous painter of Swedish extraction". This suggests that his reputation had been greatly increased by his successes in Rome and that the journey was far from wasted both in the aspect of fame and in the aspect of study.

In March 1689 Dahl and Tilson were back in London and Dahl started to work on living up to his new reputation. He quickly became friends with the poet Christoffer Leijoncrona who at the time was Secretary of the Swedish Legation. For Dahl, Leijoncrona was a very helpful ally when it came to keeping in touch with his native country. Dahl adapted to his new life and after three years in London he had transformed into a young London dandy, who paid his attentions to a certain Mlle. Fanchou, though she was not the woman he was to marry. In 1696, much thanks to Leijoncrona, he was able to settle in the neighborhood of the Swedish Legation in the fashionable quarter of Leicester Field(now Leicester Square). Leijoncrona also helped Dahl to win fame back in Sweden and two years after he settled, on October 5th 1698, the well-known metallurgist Erik Odhelius writes in a letter: "Courteous greetings to Mr Dahl, whose renown daily increases here."



Dahl kept on advancing and in 1696 he painted the portrait of the Duke of Somerset who found him to his liking even though the Duke was known for being a very despotic and difficult man to handle. The Duke continued to hire Dahl and for over 20 years he immortalized members of the Duke's family. In 1705 he got the chance of painting the portrait of Prince George of Denmark on several canvases. It was undoubtedly through the prince that he came into the circles around Queen Anne whose portrait he also painted.

In 1705 Dahl married a young English girl whose name has still not been recovered. Together they had a son, Michael, and two daughters, Dorothy and Catherine. The family was very respected by art-interested people in the neighborhood and lived a pleasant life there until 1725 when they moved to Beak street which today is in the south end of Carnaby Street. When Sir Godfrey Kneller died in 1723, George I needed to find a new court painter and he was looking in Dahl's direction. This however was quickly turned when Dahl had refused to paint the portrait of the Duke of Cumberland for his young age of only two years. Dahl had taken the request as somewhat a disgrace of his talent according to what Lord Egmont wrote in his diary about the incident: "He refused to draw the Duke of Cumberland, when two years old, desiring the lord who went down to ask it to tell His Majesty that not having had the honour of painting him or his royal consort he was unwilling to begin with a child." King George became furious by this reply and it ruined all Dahl's opportunities of becoming a Sir.

Michael Dahl died in London on the 20th October 1743 and was buried a week later in St James's Church, Piccadilly.

= References =