Pilo—efter 100 års forskning

Summary Carl Gustav Pilo is renowned as the most outstanding painter of Scandinavia in the 18th century, creator of an original version of the rococo‐style. This article deals with and solves some problems concerning his life and work, which have until now obscured the understanding of his development as artist. The actual survey of his oeuvre opens up for the possibility of a new evaluation of his oeuvre. It seems that he may originally have wished to work, not only as a painter of portrait but also in the field of religious and classical, “historical” themes. Circumstances however allowed for only few paintings of this kind, until he received the command of Gustaf III, the Swedish king, who ordered a representation of his coronation in Stockholm. In this great work, which occupied over ten years, until his death, he caught the opportunity, combining his mastership in composition, light and colour, to give a vivid, imaginative picture, where a multitude of portrait figures together form a monument over t...