1666 Stockholm 1729
Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl was the daughter of the painter David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl and Maria Momma.
In 1688, she married Johan Wattrang (1652–1724), President of Svea Hovrätt. She is still, however, known exclusively by the surname Ehrenstrahl. At this time in Sweden, it was not common for women to assume the name of their husbands after marriage. As a private person, she has been described as a cultivated hostess in the home of her spouse. Because of her wealthy marriage, she did not have to be a professional artist to support herself, but she continued to paint her entire life, and still occasionally accepted commissions for money. She seems to have been a respected artist by her contemporaries.
Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl was the student of her father. She was early assigned by him as his assistant to paint details in his work in his studio. Her father entrusted her with commissions to his studio. She produced a large number of copies of the works of her father. Among them a portrait of King Charles XI of Sweden. At this time, copying was an art form with some status, and a lucrative task for an artist.
Her production consisted of allegory, gouache and portraits of people and animals, single and in groups, in the baroque style also used by her father. At the age of twenty one, she completed an allegory of the four seasons (1687) She produced portraits of Prince Fredrik and Prince Karl Gustav by commission of the Queen Dowager (1690), a portrait of Prince Gustav (1685), a portrait of Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, and of Aurora Königsmarck. She further produced portraits of the members of the Wattrang family, and work in gouache of animals.
In 1717, Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl donated six of her paintings to Svea Hovrätt, depicting six of its presidents. On this occasion, the writer Sophia Elisabet Brenner wrote a poem of admiration to her, which depicts them both as female pioneers of their respective profession in Sweden:
If I of inborn instinct rimes for my pleasure,
Your inclination is made clear by your work.
Though art may sometimes cost us hours,
There is no better way to be remembered by.
Let envy grine against us, let death tense his bow,
For neither scare your pencil, nor my pen.
A painting depicting the same horses, which was sold at Bukowski’s auction No. 532 in May 2004, with provenance going back directly to Johan Wattrang (1652-1724), husband of the painter and with provenance from the Wattrang descendants living at Jakobsberg, Björnlunda parish in Södermanland.
Regarding the provenance of this study, Queen Josephine was interested in gardening and painting. Her interest in art was active and genuine. She supported the career of the painter (and Catholic convert) Sofia Adlersparre, and also encouraged the artistic interest and talent of her own daughter, Princess Eugénie, who became a talented amateur artist. It is not surprisingly that she owned a picture by a woman artist.
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