Johan Tobias Sergel

The first comprehensive biography chronicling the dramatic life of Sweden’s greatest sculptor

This vivid biography unveils Sergel’s artistic rebirth in Rome—and explains why Sweden’s greatest sculptor remained Europe’s forgotten genius. Not only is Johan Tobias Sergel (1740–1814) Sweden’s greatest sculptor of all time, but he was also a pioneer of international neo-Classicism and one of Europe’s most prominent sculptors in his day. Sergel considered his encounter with Rome to be an artistic rebirth: there he decided to leave most of the French Baroque behind him. The sculptor’s new guiding principles were ‘antiquity during the day and nature studies at night’. However, in interpreting the classic forms of antiquity, he retained the sensuousness of the Rococo. 

In this biography, we follow the dramatic developments in Sergel’s life, including his close relationship with Sweden’s King Gustav III and numerous artistic friends, his yearning for Rome and his final years, which were marked by illness. Based on new source material, the book describes why Sergel became famous in his own country but was unknown internationally. This is the first biography of the sculptor to be published in English.