Portrait of AgusHolzer

Anders Zorn completed this portrait in 1879, during his student years at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm. At just nineteen, Zorn was already impressing his teachers with notable talent, and members of Stockholm society had begun approaching him with portrait commissions.

This early work predates Zorn's switch from watercolors to oils, which occurred around 1887. The portrait captures Agus Holzer with the sensitive observation that would characterize Zorn's later celebrated portraits of European and American society figures. His ability to render personality alongside physical likeness was already evident in these formative works.

The following year, Zorn would produce "In Mourning," a watercolor portrait placed in a student exhibition that earned widespread acclaim and launched his professional career. Though trained in Sweden, Zorn would become internationally renowned as the "Swedish Impressionist," painting portraits of three American presidents and countless aristocrats and industrialists across Europe and America.