Kring Fredrik Westins altartavla i Åbo domkyrka

Abstract

Resume After the disastrous fire which ravaged Turku (Abo) in early September 1827, plans were made for the renovation of the Cathedral. A new altar‐painting was commissioned in the early summer of 1828 from the well‐known artist Fredrik Westin (1782–1862), Professor at the Stockholm Academy of Art. Westin, who was then at the height of his artistic career, had already executed some large altarpieces, the most recent of them being to some extent a Raphael‐inspired Transfiguration which had just been consecrated in St. Jacob's church, Stockholm. The Transfiguration of Christ was also the subject of the Turku altarpiece, at the suggestion of the leading architect at that time in Finland, Carl Ludvid Engel, who was in favour of the Cathedral being decorated with a copy of the famous painting by Raphael. Westin's depiction, however, although apparently influenced by the great Renaissance master, was a composition in its own right. The story behind the commissioning and execution of the painting, which forms t...