Girl's Face, from Spring Fresco of Jusélius Mausoleum
Medium
Mezzotint in black on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 18 × 13.8 cm (7 1/8 × 5 7/16 in.); Plate: 18.4 × 14.3 cm (7 1/4 × 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 35 × 22.5 cm (13 13/16 × 8 7/8 in.)
Classification
aquatint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
11712
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In 1901–03 Fritz Arthur Jusélius had an elaborately decorated Gothic Revival mausoleum built as a final resting place for his daughter, who had died from tuberculosis at the age of 11. The interior frescoes of the seasons were done by Symbolist artist Akseli Gallen-Kallela, but they were destroyed in a 1931 fire. Some preparatory sketches survive, however, in addition to this luminous mezzotint of a hopeful young girl, her eyes raised heavenward.