Mathilda Rotkirch

Mathilda Wilhelmina Rotkirch (28 July 1813 – 6 March 1842) was a Finnish painter. She is often referred to as the first female artist in Finland. She principally made portrait paintings.

Biography

Rotkirch was born in Borgå (Porvoo), Finland. She was the daughter of Baron and Augusta Fredrika Elisabeth Rotkirch Aminoff.

In the spring of 1833, she made her first study trip to Stockholm where she studied with Johan Gustaf Sandberg and Robert Wilhelm Ekman. She was a student at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts between 1833 and 1838. She took a study trip in 1840–1841 along with artist Sophie Aminoff (1808–1862) and her husband Carl Reuterskiöld, on a journey through Europe. They visited Lübeck, Hamburg, Kassel, Strasbourg, Bern, Geneva, Milan and Paris, where she studied with the Swedish painter and designer Per Wickenberg (1812–1846).

She died of a lung ailment in Åbo (Turku) during 1842 at the age of 28. She was buried in the family graveyard at Näsebacken next to Borgå.

Rotkirch was represented in an exhibition in Finland in 1847. She is represented at both Ateneum and Cygnaeus Gallery.

References

Literature

• Kuurne, Jouni: Mathilda Rotkirch: Taiteilija ja matkailija. 2002.
• Westermarck, Helena: Mathilda Rotkirch. Historiska och litteraturhistoriska studier 2, pp. 8–78. Svensk Litteratursällskap i Finland, Helsingfors 1926.
• Willner-Rönnholm, Margareta: MÃ¥larinnan Mathilda Rotkirch: En bortglömd pionjär? Finsk Tidskrift, 1/2003.