Religious Affects and Female Subjects in the Altarpieces of the Finnish Artist Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin

Ringa Takanen

doi:10.33356/temenos.82534

Abstract

Before the mid-nineteenth century there were few subjects in the altarpiece tradition of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in which the central figures accompanying Christ were female. Seldom used or new motifs involving female characters now emerged behind the altar. Most of the altarpieces with central women figures were painted in Finland at the turn of the twentieth century by the artist Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin (1837–1916). In the nineteenth century Frosterus-Såltin was the only artist in Finland who realized the motif of ‘Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene’ in her altarpieces. In her final representation of the theme, the altarpiece in the church of the Finnish Jepua commune, she chose an unusual approach to the motif. My interest in the subject lies in the motif’s affective nature – the ways in which altarpieces in general have been actively used to evoke feelings. Moreover, I consider the influence that Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin, a significant agent in Finnish sacral art, had on consolidating the position of women’s agency in the Finnish altarpiece tradition. I examine the motif in relation to the cultural and political atmosphere of the era, especially the changing gender roles and the understanding of women’s social agency as the women’s movement emerged.

Highlights

Before the mid-nineteenth century there were few subjects in the altarpiece tradition of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in which the central figures accompanying Christ were female
Most altarpieces in Finland whose main figures are women were painted at the turn of the twentieth century by the female artist Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin (1837–1916)
Frosterus-Såltin’s depiction of women deviates from that in other artists’ works. She introduced entirely new motifs to Finnish altarpieces: ‘Jesus and the Canaanite Woman’, the two realisations of which remain the only ones in Finland, and ‘Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene’, which the artist painted six times between 1879 and 1906.8 In addition to Frosterus-Såltin only Kaarlo Enqvist-Atra (1879–1961) seized on the latter subject

Summary

Introduction

Before the mid-nineteenth century there were few subjects in the altarpiece tradition of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in which the central figures accompanying Christ were female. Most altarpieces in Finland whose main figures are women were painted at the turn of the twentieth century by the female artist Alexandra Frosterus-Såltin (1837–1916).

Results

Conclusion