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Sophie Amalia Ribbing

1835-03-061894-12-07

Artist, portrait painter

Sophie Ribbing was a Swedish artist who was particularly known for her portraits.

Sophie Ribbing was born at the Södraholm estate, in Adelöv parish of Jönköping county, in 1835. She was the fourth of seven children. The Ribbing family was old nobility and her paternal grandfather was the holder of the Ribbing family’s heritable property Ulvsnäs, ten kilometres east of Jönköping. Sophie Ribbing’s father, Arvid Ribbing, served as the hundred governor of Tveta, Vista and Mo hundreds. Her mother, Augusta Ehrencrona, also came from a noble family and her maternal grandfather was the hundred governor in Värmland. In 1839 the family moved to Bråneryd estate in Hakarp parish, and it was there that Sophie Ribbing grew up and spent large parts of her life.

Sophie Ribbing began her art studies in Stockholm but soon continued them abroad. During the 1850s she studied landscape painting with Karl Ferdinand Sohn, a teacher at the Düsseldorf academy. At the time Düsseldorf had become a centre of arts which was highly attractive to Scandinavian artists. While Sophie Ribbing was in Düsseldorf Agnes Börjesson and Wilhelmina Lagerholm also came to the town. Sophie Ribbing later studied painting in Paris under Ange Tissier, and subsequently in Brussels under the historical painter Louis Gallait. She later also spent lengthy periods in Rome – together with Agnes Börjesson – as well as in London, and Oslo, where she also died.

Sophie Ribbing made a name for herself as both a genre painter and a portrait painter. She was heavily influenced by Louis Gallait in her genre painting. Her most known works are Ritande gossar ,1864, and Den övergivna, 1869. She gained a lot of attention for the former at the Scandinavian exhibition in Stockholm in 1866. Her painting was bought for a record sum by Gothenburg Konstförening. Sophie Ribbing was, however, mainly known for her portraits. Within this category her most well-known pieces include her portrait of the author Helena Nyblom, which is at Sweden's Nationalmuseum, as well as her portrait of the composer Ravnkilde, which is at Fredriksborg museum. The Uffizi gallery in Florence holds one of her self-portraits, completed while she was in Italy.

During her time in London Sophie Ribbing exhibited several paintings at the Royal Academy. She also frequently displayed her work through the Stockholm exhibitions held by the Swedish Academy of Art, as well as in exhibitions in Copenhagen in 1872 and 1888. Along with works by the likes of August Strindberg, Nils Dardel, and Carl Larsson, in 2016 Sophie Ribbing’s painting Ritande gossar was deemed by the Swedish National Heritage Board as representative of Sweden for the Europeana 280 project, which highlighted works significant to European history of art.

Sophie Ribbing died in Kristiania (Oslo) in 1894.


Martin Dackling
(Translated by Alexia Grosjean)


Published 2018-03-08



You are welcome to cite this article but always provide the author’s name as follows:

Sophie Amalia Ribbing, www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/SophieRibbing, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon (article by Martin Dackling), retrieved 2024-10-10.




Family Relationships

Civil Status: Unmarried
  • Mother: Carolina Augusta Ehrencrona
  • Father: Per Arvid Ribbing
  • Sister: Anna Elisabet Ribbing
more ...


Education

  • Yrkesutbildning, Stockholm: Konststudier
  • Yrkesutbildning, Düsseldorf, Tyskland: Konststudier för Karl Ferdinand Sohn, Düsseldorfakademien
  • Yrkesutbildning, Paris, Frankrike: Konststudier för Ange Tissier
  • Yrkesutbildning, Bryssel, Belgien: Konststudier för Louis Gallait


Activities

  • Profession: Konstnär


Contacts

  • Relative: Sigurd Ribbing, kusin
  • Friend: Agnes Börjesson


Residences

  • Birthplace: Södraholm
  • Adelöv
  • Hakarp
more ...


Sources

Encyclopaedia
  • Dahl, Torsten & Bohman, Nils (red.), Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok. 6, P-Sheldon, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1949

  • Roosval, Johnny & Lilja, Gösta (red.), Svenskt konstnärslexikon: tiotusen svenska konstnärers liv och verk. 4, Lundgren-Sallberg, Allhem, Malmö, 1961

  • Österberg, Carin, Lewenhaupt, Inga & Wahlberg, Anna Greta, Svenska kvinnor: föregångare nyskapare, Signum, Lund, 1990

Literature
  • Gunnarsson, Torsten, Svenskt landskapsmåleri under 1800-talet: Nationalmuseum 11.2-25.4 1982, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 1982

  • Nordstrand, Charlotta Hanner, Konstliv i Göteborg: konstföreningen, museisamlingen och mecenaten Bengt Erland Dahlgren, Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Diss. Göteborg : Univ., 2000, Göteborg, 2000



Further References



Sophie Ribbing, självporträtt, Uffizierna, Florens
Sophie Ribbing, självporträtt, Uffizierna, Florens

Keywords

19th century Artists

Links