Carl Otto von Fieandt

Carl Otto von Fieandt (1758–1825), by Jacob Axel Gillberg, 1791.

The miniature was signed in 1791 by the Swedish miniature painter Jacob Axel Gillberg (1769–1845). Between 1788 and 1797, Gillberg travelled and studied in the Netherlands, Flanders, France and England. After returning home, Gillberg became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and in 1840 the director of the said academy. Gillberg was one of the few Swedish miniature painters who made a living painting miniatures.

The miniature depicting Otto Carl von Fieandt (1758–1825) was painted while Gillberg was in Paris. Von Fieandt was also in Paris at that time, as he had been sent there by Gustav III. Von Fieandt, a Finn from the rural municipality of Mikkeli, was familiar with mapping, and in the summer of 1791, he was sent on a secret mission to revolutionary France. The French royal family were being held under arrest in Paris. Gustav III was determined to liberate them and defeat the revolution. Louis XVI was to flee the country in secret, after which Gustav would lead the army of the foreign powers to Paris. The task of von Fieandt and cornet Carl Fredrik König was to travel by stagecoach from Le Havre to Paris while mapping the army’s marching route. Tradition has it that von Fieandt drew the maps on his white gloves to keep his activities from the French. The escape of the French king from Paris failed, and the whole project eventually collapsed due to a lack of support from the major powers. Von Fieandt, however, presented the results of his expedition to the king, and in the autumn of 1791, he was promoted to major.

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