Bondespelet

Abstract

Summary Pehr Hörberg (1746–1816) is best known as a painter, having produced, among other things, altar‐pieces for some 90 Swedish churches. However, he was also active as a sculptor. Although most of his plastic production has been lost, a small terracotta lion is still extant (Fig. 1), demonstrating his talent and his style. He is also responsible for a set of chessmen in which the dominant poles in his life and his artistry can be seen. Made originally for Baron J. J. De Geer of Finspång, the chess set is now owned by Count Claes H. Lewenhaupt Claestorp. The Pawns (Swedish bonde = peasant) are shown at their daily tasks: they dig and sow, plow and thresh. They present the same characteristics as those met with in medieval and later scenes illustrating the various months. Pehr Hörberg had most likely studied the woodcuts in the almanacs for the common people published in Jönköping in the 1730's and 40's. He had little need of such sources however for information on the everyday life of the countryman. He was a farmer himself, his life long, manipulating the plow and the harrow as well as the tools of his art. In this chess set he naturally included himself among the pawns or peasants, standing with his easel and brush alongside those who work with spade and ax (Fig. 7). He signed the entire work by carving his monogram on the peasant‐painter's palette. (Fig. 9.) In so doing he also expressed a concept of the artist's social status and tasks which differed radically from that which was officially upheld in the Sweden of his day. The Academy of Art, founded in Stockholm in 1735, was striving to elevate art and artists above the level of artisanry. Pehr Hörberg frequented the Academy and eagerly studied its collection of ancient sculpture (Fig. 11), but he never disclaimed his common origins. Nor did his art ever turn into orthodox classicism. It differs greatly from that of his admiring friend, the sculptor J. T. Sergel. Hörberg retains tre proportions and the lines of movement of the baroque. The influence of neo‐classical ideals can be seen most clearly in a volume now in the University Library in Uppsala containing more than 2,500 drawings after Roman and Greek gems (Fig. 12), and in the chess set. Among the set's divinites one finds Jupiter and Juno leading the white pieces as king and queen, while the black pieces are governed by Pluto and Proserpina. Bishops are known in Swedish chess terms as löpare or runners, and they are given the identities here of Apollo and Pan pursuing Daphne and Syrinx. (Figs. 16–17.) Knights are called springare or steeds, and in their ranks we find Alexander and Hercules, Perseus and Neptune. The identification of the individual pieces poses no problems. Each god and hero is provided with the appropriate attributes as laid down by handbooks of iconography. However, it is harder to find a pattern unifying the four different groups of pieces. Still, there are some pointers conducive to further analysis to be found in two works on the theory of chess, both of which were in Baron De Geer's library at Finspång: Gustavus Selenus’ Das Schach oder Königs‐Spiel 1616, and Philidor's Analyze du Jeu des Échecs 1749. In agreement with those, scholars like Hans and Siegfried Wichmann, who have written on the subject, interprete the game as a model of society. In their view, the dimensions of the pawns or peasants in many late 18th century chess sets are indicative of coming social changes. The peasants take on greater importance. They shed their anonymity and strengthen their position vis‐à‐vis the “officers”. The central hierarchy begins to totter. In Pehr Hörberg's chess set the gods have no definite order of rank. They represent a royal court in the process of disintegration. There is logic, however, in the peasants’ demands for recognition of themselves and of their work. More or less intentionally, Pehr Hörberg designed his pieces for a “game of peasants” in accordance with the principles outlined in Philidor's Analyze.