10 Facts About Ernst Josephson

Ernst Abraham Josephson was a Swedish painter and poet.

Ernst Josephson specialized in portraits, genre scenes of folklife and folklore.

Ernst Josephson was born to a middle-class family of merchants of Jewish ancestry.

Ernst Josephson's uncle Ludvig Josephson was a dramatist and his uncle Jacob Axel Josephson was a composer.

When he was ten, his father Ferdinand Semy Ferdinand Josephson left home and he was raised by his mother, Gustafva Jacobsson and three older sisters.

Ernst Josephson was there until 1876, when he received a Royal Medal for painting.

Ernst Josephson soon began concentrating on portraits, many of which depicted his peers and fellow Swedes in France.

Ernst Josephson was forced to discontinue pursuing a relationship with young model, Ketty Rindskopf.

Ernst Josephson was deeply affected by his mother's death in 1881, though had found respite when, in 1883, he had obtained the patronage of Pontus Furstenberg, a wealthy merchant and art collector.

Ernst Josephson's paintings had become rather distorted, but his earlier works were shown at exhibitions in Paris and Berlin, thanks to arrangements made by Richard Bergh and Georg Pauli, and he received several medals for them.