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Robert Wilhelm Ekman (aka. R. W. Ekman, August 13, 1808 – February 19, 1873) was a significant teacher and painter of the Finnish romantic portraits and early national romanticism.

Childhood and Arts Education
Robert Ekman was born in Uusikaupunki
Uusikaupunki

Uusikaupunki , is a list of towns in Finland and municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper regions of Finland....
, Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 to an upper class family. His father was Karl Kristoffer Ekman, a medical doctor and a mayor. Mother was Sara Elisabet (maiden name Gadolin).






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Robert Wilhelm Ekman (aka. R. W. Ekman, August 13, 1808 – February 19, 1873) was a significant teacher and painter of the Finnish romantic portraits and early national romanticism.

Childhood and Arts Education


Robert Ekman was born in Uusikaupunki
Uusikaupunki

Uusikaupunki , is a list of towns in Finland and municipalities of Finland of Finland.It is located in the provinces of Finland of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper regions of Finland....
, Finland
Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
 to an upper class family. His father was Karl Kristoffer Ekman, a medical doctor and a mayor. Mother was Sara Elisabet (maiden name Gadolin). Robert Ekman's both parents died when he was about 10 years old. They left behind five orphans who were placed in foster homes. Schooling was incomplete and there was no chance of academic education.

Robert Ekman first studied in Finland under the guidance of Gustaf Wilhelm Finnberg, but in 1824, with his brother Fredrubjm begun studies in Kungliga Akademien för de Fria Konsterna (The royal academy for free arts) in Stockholm. Already as a student Ekman specialized in portraying the life of the common people, instead of Classicism
Classicism

File:Nicolas Poussin 055.jpgClassicism, in the The Arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seeks to emulate....
 of the academic art
Academic art

Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academy or universities.Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Acad?mie des beaux-arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and the art that followed these two mo...
s. Ekman graduated in 1836, and was granted a generous traveling scholarship for excelling in his studies. That supported him working in Holland
Holland

Holland is a name in common usage given to two regions in the western part of Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often mistakenly used to refer to the whole of The Netherlands....
, France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 and Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 between years 1837-1844. As the scholarship was not plausible otherwise, Ekman took the Swedish citizenship.

Court Painter and a Teacher


Upon returning to Stockholm
Stockholm

is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden....
, Ekman was dubbed as an agré, also he was accepted as a member of the academy in 1844. The title included the one of royal court and history painter. In 1845 Ekman returned to Turku
Turku

Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland....
, where he begun decorating the Turku Cathedral with wall paintings. The laborious fresco
Fresco

Fresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins....
 were finished in 1854.

Having lived in Finland for ten years, Ekman regained Finnish citizenship in 1855. Having moved to Turku
Turku

Turku is a List of towns in Finland situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of Aura river. It is located in the region of Finland Proper in the Province of Western Finland....
, Ekman started working on art education with the master painter Carl Gustaf Söderstrand. In 1846 the Turku School of Drawing was founded, lead by Ekman in 1846-1873.

Famous Works