As queen consort and dowager, Hedwig Eleonora (1636 1715) held a unique position in Sweden for more than half a century. As the dominant collector and patron of art and architecture in the realm, she left a strong mark on Swedish court culture. Her dynastic network among the Northern European courts was extensive, and this helped to make Sweden a major cultural center in Northern Europe in the later seventeenth century. This book represents the first major scholarly publication on the full range of Hedwig Eleonora s endeavours, from the financing of her court to her place within a larger...

Explores early modern Scandinavia as an integral and essential part of Central Europe. Examines the visual arts in all media from the Reformation to the fall of Sweden as a great power in the earlier eighteenth century.