A young brown-eyed man looks directly at the viewer, a faint smile on his lips. He is posing for a miniature painter, probably in Stockholm. The collar of his uniform is decorated with silver embroidery, and his short brown hair is covered in grey powder. The year is 1802 and wigs are no longer considered fashionable, but hair is still being powdered. Once the portrait is finished, one lock of his brown hair is cut off and attached to the same golden frame as the finished miniature. Next to the lock of hair is also attached a small blue enamelled forget-me-not. The young man has reached the age where it is time to consider marriage. This miniature will be a gift for the bride.

Carl Fredrik Rotkirch

The young man is Carl Fredrik Rotkirch, who would have turned 250 years old on 20 October 2025. At the time when the portrait was painted in 1802, he was 27 years old. Rotkirch was born in Stensböle Manor in Porvoo and studied at Uppsala University. From 1793, he served in the King's office, where his duties included travelling to Pomerania in 1797 to receive Gustav IV Adolf's bride, Princess Frederica Dorothea of Baden, and escorting her to Stockholm. In 1802, the year the miniature was painted, Rotkirch accompanied Gustav IV Adolf and his wife on their trip to Finland.

Photos: Finnish Heritage Agency, Marco Meinander.
- Carl Fredrik Rotkirch (1775–1832), painted by J.A. Gillberg 1802.
- Reverse side of the miniature.
- Augusta Fredrika Elisabet Aminoff (1785–1846), painted by Erik Wilhelm le Moine 1817.

Portrait miniatures were often painted as gifts for a sweetheart, betrothed or spouse. Rotkirch's miniature may also have been painted for such a reason. In 1803, Rotkirch resigned from his position at court, returned to Finland and began farming on the Storby farm he owned in Pyhtää. Rotkirch was probably already planning a marriage in 1802 when the miniature was painted, as on 8 September 1803 he married Augusta Fredrika Elisabet Aminoff at Kahiluoto Manor in Taivassalo. The bride celebrated her 18th birthday on her wedding day, while Rotkirch himself turned 28 that autumn. The Kahiluoto Manor house was later moved to Seurasaari in Helsinki, where it is still open to the public as part of the Open-Air Museum.

In 1809, Carl Fredrik Rotkirch attended the Diet of Porvoo after Sweden ceded Finland to Russia following the Finnish War. Rotkirch was a member of the Governing Council and head of the church administration from 1809 to 1812. In 1812, Rotkirch resigned from this position and moved to Porvoo to farm his inherited estate of Stensböle Manor. In 1817, Rotkirch was appointed president of the Vaasa Court of Appeal. In 1830, he was awarded the rank of baron. Carl Fredrik Rotkirch died in Vaasa in May 1832 of pneumonia at the age of 56.

At the same time as Carl Rotkirch's miniature, the National Museum of Finland also acquired a miniature of his wife Augusta, painted by miniaturist Erik Wilhelm le Moine. However, this miniature was not painted until 1817, after the couple had been married for 14 years and had six children. In total, the couple ended up having ten children. One of these children was Mathilda Rotkirch, one of Finland's first female artists.

Portrait miniature

The commissioning of portrait miniatures was popular among the gentry in the early 19th century. The miniatures were often framed like lockets. The small size of portrait miniatures made them easy to carry with you – in the same way that people would later carry photographs of loved ones.

The miniature of Carl Fredrik Rotkirch has a diameter of 6.5 cm. It has a narrow gold frame, and both the painting side and the reverse side with the lock of hair have glass covers. The painting was done with water-soluble paints (watercolour and gouache) on thin ivory board.

The miniature is signed ‘Gillberg pinxit 1802.’ Jacob Axel Gillberg (1769–1845) was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and, from 1840, its director. Gillberg was one of the few Swedish miniaturists who made a living painting miniatures.

Satu Frondelius