Så här i januari 2021 när världen står stilla och väntar på vad som ska hända med Coronapandemin, ägnar jag mig åt att titta tillbaka på de resor Sara och jag gjort under de fyra år vi hållit på med vårt Augustaprojekt. Vi hittar hela tiden nya vinklar på Augustas liv och senaste veckan har jag fokuserat på de kyrkor hon haft anknytning till under sitt 28-åriga liv. Eftersom kyrkan och religionen var centrala i människors liv vid denna tid, finns det en del att reflektera över.
Det var i kyrkan man till exempel hade möjlighet att studera konst. Här fanns vackra muralmålningar liksom oljemålningar. De flesta med bibliska motiv.
Men dagar när hon var bättre, var hon ute och promenerade. Det var inte långt till Ulrika Eleonora kyrka (Kungsholms kyrka), och säkert gick hon ofta dit för få sitta och beundra det vackra kyrkorummet. Hon var säkert där på högmässor också.
Men den första gången hon steg in i kyrkan måste hon blivit lika förvånad som jag blev just idag.
Jag skulle bara ta några foton i snöyran, till min serie om Augustas kyrkor, när jag upptäckte att kyrkan var öppen. Ute är det snöstorm och när jag kliver in i kyrkan är det som att komma in i ett ljust himmelrike med alla ljuskronorna tända och en vaktmästare som ler och nickar ”välkommen”. Jag går gången framåt mot altaret, men hinner inte ta till mig intrycket från altare och predikstol. Min blick har fastnat på en målning till höger, en målning som jag senast såg i Dresden på Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister på vår Augustaresa i oktober 2017.
Kerstin och Madonnan i Dresden 2017
Det är Madonna di San Sisto av Rafael som hänger här i Kungsholms kyrka, eller i alla fall en kopia. Det var den målningen som Augusta beskrev i sin resedagbok i Dresden och som vi blev så imponerade av när vi upptäckte den i konstmuseets största sal. Målningen var så stor! Och så var det de där kaxiga små änglarna som är så uttrycksfulla.
Målningen i Kungsholms kyrka är inte lika stor. Jag går bort till vaktmästaren och frågar vem som målat tavlan. Han verkar inte helt bevandrad i renässanskonst men ger mig en liten skrift där det säkert står beskrivet. Samtidigt svamlar jag om att jag senast såg tavlan i Dresden. Men att jag vet att det finns en kopia målad av Sophie Adlersparre i mitten av 1800-talet. Och den ska finnas i katolska kyrkan i Oslo.
För att ytterligare spä på min snurriga image berättar jag att jag håller på att skriva en bok om en ung kvinna som var sjuk i TBC och som bodde här på Hantverkargatan och att hon har skrivit om tavlan som jag såg i Dresden.
Han är väldigt vänlig och vi utbyter visitkort.
Jag undrar om Augusta blev lika vimsigt glad när hon upptäckte sin favorittavla av Rafael i Ulrika Eleonora kyrka 1852. För visst måste den funnits där då. I kyrkans lilla informationshäfte står det att de kallar målningen Rafaels rundtavla föreställande Maria med Jesusbarnet. Man tror att den är målad av någon av Rafaels elever i hans ateljé. Undrar om det är sant? Men säkert finns det många kopior målade från originalmålningen.
När Sara kommer till Sverige nästa gång (efter pandemin) har vi ytterligare ett besök att göra, Ulrika Eleonora kyrka och Madonna di San Sisto. Då ska vi ta reda på historien om målningen.
Selma Wretman was ranked as number 11 among the girls who were confirmed in St Jacob’s church in May of 1844 because her father, Fredric Wretman (1791-1857), although not having an important title, was a wholesale merchant with considerable wealth.
Selma was born in Maria Magdalena parish on May 16, 1828. Her mother was Charlotta Fredrika Björling (1795-1890) and she had an older brother, Fredric, and a younger brother, Johan. In 1834, the family lived by Slussen in Stockholm, in a block named Mälaren.
By 1844, the family had moved to Stora Trädgårdsgatan 19 (what is now Gallerian, an indoor shopping center across from the famous department store, NK). In the census records for this year, Fredric Wretman also noted that he was a part-owner of two merchant ships. The other owner was Fredric Sievers who married Selma’s confirmation friend, Johanna Maria Wennberg.
In 1846, Fredric Westman bought a large stone house on Hamngatan 16 with a great view of Kungsträdgården, the expansive park in the center of Stockholm. It was next to an old palace (Sparre’s Palace) which housed a charity home for widows and daughters of the bourgeoisie. Selma would live with her family at Hamngatan 16 most of her life. When Selma married Waldemar Wretman in 1851, Waldemar moved in and they would raise their children in this house. Selma’s mother inherited the house when her father died in 1857.
The house to the right is where Selma lived, Hamngatan 16. The next house (which looks like two houses) is Sparre’s Palace. And the big house in the middle was built in 1866 as an art space for exhibitions and studios. Teodor Blanch opened a cafe on the ground floor in 1868. Photo by Carolina von Knorring (1868-1873).
Marriage and children
Waldemar (1820-1891) and Selma were both first and 2nd degree cousins. But instead of continuing the family tradition of being a wholesale merchant, Waldemar studied law at the University of Uppsala and eventually became a justice of the Swedish Supreme Court (Swedish: Justitieråd) in 1860.
Selma lived a traditional life as a wife and a mother. She gave birth to (as far as I know) 5 children:
Johan (1852-1923). Married and had children.
Anna (1854-1878). Anna died from tuberculosis at the age of 23.
Waldemar (1856-1936). Didn’t marry and had no children.
Sigrid (1858-1859). Sigrid died from bronchitis before her first birthday.
Walborg (1861-1863). Walborg died from measles at the age of 2.
The two youngest girls, Sigrid and Walborg, were born at Kratsboda, the family farm in Bromma parish outside Stockholm. They were both born in the summer and one possible explanation for them not being born in Stockholm might be that with recurring cholera outbreaks in the city, it was safer to give birth in the countryside. Sadly, both girls died as infants from diseases that are now preventable and treatable with vaccines and antibiotics.
Selma and Waldemar had a 40-year long marriage. Waldemar died in 1891 and Selma in 1896.
Waldemar and Selma Wretman in 1864. Watercolors by Claes Fredrik Laurén.
Blanch’s Café
When I tried to find images of Kungsträdgården from the mid-1800s and images of their house, I instead found many of Blanch’s café – an establishment I was not familiar with. When I read about it, I could imagine Selma’s daughter Anna being just the right age to enjoy it:
The year is 1871 and two girls are walking home from St Jacob’s Church in Stockholm. They have just attended the confirmation class with Pastor Lundberg. Anna Wretman and Clary von Schwerin are walking through Kungsträdgården – the Royal Garden – the large park in the middle of Stockholm.
When they get to the end of the park, they decide to have a cup of tea at Blanch’s Café. It is the most elegant café in Stockholm and it is the place to watch people and to be seen. There is a band playing and they get a table far from the cigar-smoking men who are having a lively discussion. Finally, Stockholm has a café that can measure up to those on the continent. And once it gets warmer, they will be able to sit outside in the park and it will be even livelier.
Anna lives just across the street, in a stately house at Hamngatan 16. She has always lived here, playing in Kungsträdgården when she was younger, and she could not imagine living anywhere else. Even her mother, Selma, lived in this house when she was the same age. And like Anna, she had also walked to St Jacob’s Church to attend confirmation class. But of course, there had been no Blanch’s café at that time!
Teodor Blanch was a German entrepreneur, restauranteur, and art dealer. After having been the restauranteur of the famous Opera Cellar (Operakällaren), he had the brilliant idea to establish a café in Kungsträdgården. It would be as grand as those in his hometown of Berlin, with both indoor and outdoor seating. The waiters would wear tail-coats and white tablecloths added to the elegance of the café. There were crystal chandeliers and tropical plants. And, of course, there would be concerts and music all year around. When Blanch’s café opened in 1868 it transformed the social life in Stockholm. Ten years later, Blanch was one of the first restaurateurs who installed electric light!
Blanch’s Cafe. Based on a lithograph by A. Nay. This view could have been from the Selma’s front door at Hamngatan 16.The original lithography from the 1870s
Sager’s Houses
So what happened to Selma’s house at Hamngatan 16? Well, first, a few houses in the same block (the block named Hästen) were demolished for the NK department store. I have previously written about Augusta’s friends, Augusta Holmqvist, Eugenia Björkman, and Charlotta Salomon, who lived in those houses. Selma’s house and the house next door (Hamngatan 14) were spared and bought by the brothers Edvard and Robert Sager in 1888. The houses were beautifully remodeled and became known as the Sager Houses.
In the 1960s, the city government decided that the two houses should be demolished to provide space for a new bank building. Many opposed these plans and called for the houses to be preserved for their historical and architectural significance. Despite the public outcry, the houses were demolished.
The department store NK on the left, Selma’s house (Hamngatan 16) in the middle, and Hamngatan 14 on the right. The two houses were referred to as the Sager Houses and later demolished.Kungsträdgården, probably about 1859-1860 (The large house on the right is Davidson’s House which was finished in 1859. As there is no grove of elm trees in the park, the photo must have been taken before they were planted around 1860.) Photo from Stockholm City Museum. At the end of the park, the house furthest to the left, and partially hidden by St Jacob’s Church, is Selma’s house, Hamngatan 16.
“to imagine, quite vividly… “
I was delighted to discover that Selma has descendants today in Sweden. Maybe they have a family archive with diaries and correspondence?
It was Selma’s son, Johan, who had a family and children. But the most fascinating discovery was that he wrote a handbook on Swedish genealogy which was published in 1916 (Swedish title: Kort Handbok i Svensk Släktforskning). It might even be the first published handbook in Sweden on how to find your ancestors?
And this is what he wrote:
If the researcher also have access to documents that provide information about more important stages in the lives of the deceased, estate records – drawn up at their death, or letters to and from them, which together with written or oral family traditions give knowledge of their characters and inner life; then it becomes so much easier, with the help of some imagination – if one has been bestowed with that gift – to imagine quite vividly, how these ancestors in their time worked and lived, married and gave birth to children, rejoiced and suffered, and finally, early or late, passed away.
So here is to Johan Wretman – I hope he would have approved of me imagining his sister Anna visiting Blanch’s Café on her way home from St Jacob’s Church!
Footnote:
Selma’s daughter Anna also attended St Jacob’s Church and was confirmed in 1871. She was ranked as number 1 of the girls in the confirmation class that year, because her father was a justice of the Supreme Court. Her friend Clary von Schwerin was ranked as number 2, because her father was a count, Count Fredric (Figge) Bogislaus von Schwerin. Her father is mentioned in our Augusta’s diary:
Stockholm, March 1851
Monday morning I went to visit Ribbingens and Bohemans. They were overly astonished to see me so unexpectedly in the Capital City, and in the evening we saw the great opera, “A Tale of the Queen of Navarre.” There I met Count Figge Schwerin, who escorted me home and was quite himself, much disposed to let his lady alone carry on the conversation and himself look like he was sleepwalking.
Well, Figge von Schwerin married and had a daughter named Clary.
The theatre was a magical place. It was a world like no other. Letty loved the times she was allowed to come with her father to the theatre. Later in life, when she reflected on her happy childhood, there was one memory that stood out. It would have been in 1839 because she remembered that she was almost 12 years old.
Her father, the director of the Royal Theatre, had just returned home from a visit to the Royal Palace. He was in a great mood and had asked if she wanted to see a final rehearsal at the theatre the following day. The opera, Robert of Normandy, was to open in two days.
The next day, she and her father arrived at the Royal Theatre and her father introduced her to the women performers. She remembered the opera singers, Mathilda Gelhaar, Jenny Lind, and Mina Fundin, the actress Charlotta Almlöf, and the ballerinas, Sophie Daguin and Adolfina Fägerstedt. They were so friendly and lively. They were not stodgy like the women who would come to visit her mother. And oh, were they beautiful! The only disappointment, and surprise, was that they did not wear their costumes at the dress rehearsal. She had so much looked forward to seeing the women’s dresses.
Letty got to choose where to sit, and she picked the first row on one of the balconies. She could see her father walk around on stage in his slippers, talking to the actors. Then the curtains closed and in the dim light from the oil lamps in the large chandelier, she waited. She could see the orchestra getting ready and the conductor looking out over the musicians and their shiny instruments. Robert of Normandy was an opera in five acts by composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. He had named the opera, Robert le Diable, but in Stockholm, they had given it a different name.
As the conductor raised his baton, the music started and the main curtain was raised. The illuminated stage revealed a beautifully painted backdrop. And on stage was a group of men. One of them was supposed to be Robert, but it wasn’t obvious who it was as they were still in their regular clothes. She remembered the chills when they started singing. Oh, could they sing! Letty forgot her disappointment that they were not in costume because it didn’t matter. She was mesmerized. If she only had the talent, she would love to work at the theatre when she grew up.
Watching Robert of Normandy became one of her most cherished childhood memories. Maybe because it was the first opera she saw at the theatre, and maybe it was because she felt like she had been part of the theatre family.
Many years later, when she saw Jenny Lind, who had become an international sensation, she remembered Lind’s performance as Alice in Robert of Normandy. It had been one of Jenny Lind’s first major performances.
Laetitia (Letty) Charlotta Juliania Backman
Letty Backman was listed as number 4 of the girls who got confirmed in St Jacob’s church. That should have been no surprise as her father was a colonel, an adjutant to King Carl XIV Johan, and the Director of the Royal Theatre (the opera house in Stockholm).
Letty was born on 11 July 1827 to Alexis Backman (1794-1871) and Lovisa Christina Strömbäck (1797-1873). She had a 2-year younger brother, named Alexis after his father. In 1844, when Letty was attending confirmation classes, the family lived at Mäster Samuels Gränd No. 48. That was two houses away from where Augusta’s friend Lotten lived. Letty’s father’s last year as director of the theatre was in 1844. The same year, Alexis Backman became the Postal Inspector in the town of Gävle, and the family left Stockholm.
Two years later, on October 12, 1846, Letty married Carl Magnus Norman in Gävle. Carl Magnus was born in Falun but was a wholesale merchant in Gävle. Carl Magnus and his older brother August were both in the business of trade, but Carl Magnus seemed to have embraced more risky businesses. He was even described as a swindler. In 1849, he was forced to declare bankruptcy and many, included his brother who had lent him large amounts for his lofty businesses, were affected by the bankruptcy.
In 1857, Letty, Carl Magnus, and their one-year-old daughter Lilia (Lilli) moved to Stockholm. They were doing well and got an apartment at a prestigious address – the corner of Drottninggatan and Karduansmakaregränd, just a few blocks from the Royal Theatre. I can imagine Letty’s excitement about that move! She was back home, and she was still young, only 30 years old.
She would raise her children here, and someday, when they were old enough, she could take them to the theatre.
Little Lilia Blenda was born in 1856. Then came Carl Justus, born in 1859, followed by Alexis in 1867, and Anna Laeticia in 1869. By that time, they had moved to Nya Kungsholmsbrogatan 23, which was just kitty-corner to their old home.
In 1884, Carl Magnus died at the age of 68. He had been ill for some time and the cause of death was recorded as an organic heart defect. Letty died 9 years later, in 1893, and at the age of 65.
Augusta’s acquaintance, Erik Edholm, Theatre Director Alexis Backman, and Sophie Daguin. Drawing by Fritz von Dardel
Letty’s father, Alexis Backman, Postal Inspector in Gävle
Alexis Backman, gouache painting, 1850
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Sources:
Plays performed at the Royal Theatre during 1839-1840:
About theatre contracts and women’s theatrical costumes (in Swedish):
In the 1830s, women actresses were supposed to provide their own costumes for contemporary plays. Wearing the latest fashion was therefore important but costly for the underpaid actresses. Some actresses, like Sophie Daguin and Emilie Högqvist, became mistress to wealthy men, which helped with their expenses. The following thesis (in Swedish) deals with the topics of theatre contracts and the history of theatrical costume in Sweden:
Letty was a good friend of Marie-Louise Forsell, who kept a detailed diary which was published posthumously. Letty is often at Marie-Louise’s house and in the company of some of the other girls in the confirmation class.
Heijkenskjöld, Syster, ed. 1915. Sällskapslif och hemlif i Stockholm på 1840-talet: ur Marie-Louise Forsells dagboksanteckningar. Stockholm: Bonnier. (Translation of title: Social Life and Home Life in Stockholm in the 1840s: From Marie-Louise Forsell’s Diary Notes).
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Lotten Ulrich, who lived at the Royal Palace, describes in her diary how Alexis Backman invited her and her family to attend the rehearsal of Robert of Normandy. Much of what I imagine Letty would have experienced, if she indeed had been invited, is from Lotten Ulrich’s diary. Lotten and her family were also invited to see the premiere of the opera two days later.
In addition, Lotten describes how Alexis Backman lent them props for their own theatre productions at the palace. He seems to have been a very jovial person.
Östman, Margareta. 2015. Systrarna Ulrichs dagböcker – från Stockholms slott, Djurgården och landsorten 1830-1855. Stockholm: Carlssons. (Translation of title: The Ulrich Sisters’ Diaries – from Stockholm’s Palace, Djurgården, and the Countryside 1830-1855).
Jag har idag haft ett för ömkligt bref ifrån gumman Lotta. Hon är alldeles tröstlös och utarmad fattig. Hon riktigt tigger som eljest ej är hennes vana. Från Mina Bärg hade jag idag tiggarbref. Hon begärde ej mindre än klänning åt sig och döttrar. Jag skickade vad du samlat i asken mer kunde jag ej åstakomma.”
Hade Mina (Vilhelmina) Berg hört talas om att hennes moster Anna var generös? Åtminstone visste hon att de hade det gott ställt.
Julen 1852 satte hon sig i alla fall ner och skrev ett brev till sin moster Anna, Augustas mamma, och bad henne skänka henne och hennes döttrar varsin klänning. Det var ju i alla fall jul och rikt folk brukade ge julgåvor till de fattiga.
Minas syster Thilda (Mathilda) hade ju fått pengar skickade från Augusta året innan, så nog kunde de väl avvara några klänningar, åtminstone till de vuxna döttrarna. Mina Berg hade förutom fem söner, sju döttrar. Den äldsta var 21 och den yngsta 4 år.
Anna berättade om Minas ”tiggarbrev” i sitt julbrev till Augusta på juldagen 1852. Kanske hade släktingarna svårt att förstå att Gustaf Lejdenfrost, Augustas svåger, var framgångsrik fabrikör just för att han var noga med sina utgifter. En del skulle säkert kalla honom snål. (Vilket skulle visa sig vara helt fel vid arvskiftet efter hans död). Augusta fick ett månatligt underhåll som hon noga redovisade i sin kassabok, så något slöseri var det inte tal om.
Mamma Anna rotade i Augustas kista med urvuxna kläder. Det fanns inte mycket där. Oftast sydde de om gamla klänningar till nya. Då kom sömmerskan fru Brandt till Loddby. Hon var oerhört skicklig med nål och tråd. Mamma Anna hade tidigt lärt sig hur viktigt det var att tillvarata varenda tygbit. Men denna vinter handlade det nog mer om att sy in Augustas klänningar. Hon hade ju blivit så mager av sitt hostande och sin trasiga lunga. Anna kunde inte förstå hur Adolf ville gifta sig med ett sådant ”skrälle”, skriver hon i brev till Augusta.
Men kärleken verkade vara blind. Kärleksbreven mellan Augustas sjukrum i Stockholm och Adolfs studerkammare i Uppsala var frekventa, trots att Augusta blivit förbjuden av Professor Malmsten att skriva eller annat som gjorde henne echaufferad.
Men nu var Augusta i Stockholm och kunde alltså inte hjälpa henne att välja ut klädgåvor till kusinen Mina och hennes döttrar. Anna var nog lite förbittrad. Trots allt hade ju familjen Björkdal levt på god fot i sin vackra herrgård Tomta i Ledberg och på gården Leddamålen i Torpa. Visst hade hon förståelse för att livet blivit hårdare för änkan, Faster Lotta, och hennes döttrar sedan pappa Svante dött 1831. Det var slut med herrgårdslivet och de unga mamsellerna var kanske inte så bra på att rätta mun efter matsäcken. Yngsta dottern Mathilda (Thilda) hade fått ta arbete som jungfru hos släktingar och underhöll sin mamma med de få slantarna hon i bästa fall fick ut. Augusta hade skickat dem pengar till hyran förra året.
Storasyster Mina hade gift sig redan innan fadern dog. Det var ju den vanliga ordningen, att bli försörjd av en make. Sedan hade hon fött 12 barn och skulle ett år senare föda ytterligare en son. Inte konstigt att de hade det knapert.
Augustas mamma suckade och packade ihop kläderna från kofferten i ett litet paket. Hon skulle skicka det till familjen Berg i Ledberg. Det var ju dit faster Lotta och kusinerna ständigt återvände, inte till herrgården Tomta, men till släktingar i socknen.
Anna tänkte tillbaka på sin egen barndom på Åserum. Hon och hennes bror blev moderlösa som tonåringar och fick flytta in på en grannes gård då fadern var för gammal att ta hand om dem. Anna hade gift sig tidigt och därmed blivit försörjd. Och lilla Augusta blev ju faktiskt faderslös som åttaåring. De hade haft tur som hade svågern Gustaf Lejdenfrost, som blivit deras försörjare. Vad hade hänt annars? Hade de också fått resa runt bland välvilliga släktingar som guvernanter eller jungfrur och levt på andras välvilja. Det hade aldrig blivit någon Tysklandsresa eller utbildning i Stockholm. Inte heller några vackra klänningar eller baler. Inte heller någon dagbok till eftervärlden.
Nej i Annas och Augustas värld fanns inte något som hette ”tur”. De trodde fullt och fast att det var Försynen eller ”den store Givaren” , som var Augustas namn på Gud. Inte konstigt att de hela tiden var så tacksamma mot Gud. När folks liv helt ställdes på ända beroende på sjukdomar och död fanns ingen annan tröst än religionen.
Faster Lotta Björkdahl f. 1779 var syster till Augustas pappa Johan Petter Söderholm
Hon var gift med Svante Björkdahl f. 1767
De hade barnen
Peter Björkdahl f. 1802
Vilhelmina (Mina) Berg f. Björkdahl 1809
Mathilda (Thilda) Björkdahl f. 1816
som alltså var kusiner till Augusta
Jag kommer berätta mer om denna familj. Kusinen Matilda finns med i dagboken och i brevsamlingen.
