Sources:
The Royal Library of Sweden (Kungliga Biblioteket)
Alvin Portal (Uppsala University Library)
Popp, Nathan Alan. "Beneath the surface: the portraiture and visual rhetoric of Sweden's Queen Christina." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2010. DOI: 10.17077/etd.8ii490wt
Above: Kristina.
This engraved portrait (chalcograph), the first of Kristina as queen/king, is a variation by the Dutch Golden Age artist Friedrich van Hulsen (1580-1665) on an engraving originally by the Dutch-German court painter, engraver, publisher and art agent Michel le Blon (1587-1658), adapted from a painting (which likely no longer survives) by the Baltic German (Livonian) court painter Jakob Heinrich Elbfas (c. 1600-1664); which itself was commissioned by Sweden's Grand Chancellor and Kristina's chief regent, Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1654), in early 1633 — possibly in response to the initially skeptical peasant Lars Larsson's cry of "Who is the King's daughter? We do not know her, nor have we ever seen her"; in response to which Kristina was immediately carried in and presented to the man, who was finally convinced as soon as he saw her resemblance to her father to accept her as his new queen.
In this portrait, the six year old Kristina's long, prominent nose and the high, large and broad forehead — the facial features that most made her resemble her late father, Gustav II Adolf (1594-1632) — are emphasised to stress the family resemblance between them. She is depicted in a half-length pose, wearing a black mourning dress with a wide white collar and white cuffs, a white veil, and white gloves — and with a smiling but serene expression on her face (the late King also was depicted wearing broad collars in his own portraits). The "dignified" placement of her hands over each other and resting on her middle is meant to symbolise an appropriately "lady-like" piety and her already strong intellect.
It seems that Oxenstierna chose this portrait to be adapted specifically to the print medium for a reason. It was a way to introduce the young monarch to her subjects for the first time, as well as to announce and affirm her entry and position onto the European political stage. As her subjects would have expected (and in spite of her smile), Kristina is tactfully depicted in mourning for her father, and the portrait was also an announcement to any potential suitors from the royal and princely houses of Europe that she had now come into a position of power.
Le Blon's version of the portrait is kept at the National Museum in Stockholm, although it is not yet digitised on their website. In addition to Kristina's full title at the time, which is announced in a circular frame around the child herself, flanked by two angels, the one holding a laurel wreath and a crown and the other holding a palm leaf and a scepter — the traditional symbols of royal and divine power — this edition of the portrait includes a Latin poem by the German poet Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (1597-1639), which points out her resemblance to her father, her importance to her kingdom, to her mother, to the world and to Germany, and encouraging her to be herself as she grows up and lives her life.
The inscription and poem:
CHRISTINA D. G. SUECOR: GOTHOR: ET VANDAL: REGINA MAGN: PRINC: FINL: DUC: ETH: & CAREL: DOMINA INGRIÆ etc.
Hæc est divini soboles et imago parentis,
Spes regni, matris deliciæ, Orbis amor.
Tam teneram, Lector, Germania pressa requirit,
Et Libertati gens inimica timet
At tu, nata, patrem vultu quæ reddis, et ausis
Redde bonis, annos vive sed ipsa tuos.
With modernised spelling:
Christina, Dei gratia Suecorum, Gothorum et Vandalorum Regina; Magna Princeps Finlandiæ; Ducissa Estoniæ et Careliæ; Domina Ingriæ, etc.
Hæc est divini soboles et imago parentis,
Spes regni, matris deliciæ, orbis amor.
Tam teneram, lector, Germania pressa requirit,
Et libertati gens inimica timet
At tu, Nata, patrem vultu quæ reddis, et ausis
Redde bonis, annos vive sed ipsa tuos.
French translation (my own; I cannot tag it as such due to character limits in the tags):
Christine, par la grâce de Dieu, Reine des Suédois, des Goths et des Vandales; Grande Princesse de Finlande; Duchesse d'Estonie et de Carélie; Demoiselle d'Ingrie, etc.
Cette enfante est la progéniture divine et l'image de son père,
L'espérance du royaume, la joie de sa mère, la chérie du monde.
Si jeune!
Lecteur, l'Allemagne opprimée a besoin d'elle,
Et une nation hostile à la liberté la craint.
Mais toi, Fille, qui rends à ton père ton visage,
Et qui oses rendre la pareille aux bons,
Sois seulement toi-même pendant que tu vis tes années.
Swedish translation (my own; I cannot tag it as such due to character limits in the tags):
Kristina, med Guds nåd, Sveriges, Götes och Vendes Drottning; Storfurstinna till Finland; Hertiginna uti Estland och Karelen; Fröken över Ingermanland osv.
Det här barn är den gudomliga avkomman och bilden av hennes fader,
Rikets hopp, hennes moders förtjusning, världens älskling.
Så ung!
Läsare, det förtryckta Tyskland behöver henne,
Och en nation som är fientlig mot frihet fruktar henne.
Men du, Dotter, som återgäldar din fader med ditt ansikte,
Och vem vågar återgälda det goda,
Var bara dig själv som du lever ut dina år.
English translation (my own):
Kristina, by the grace of God, Queen of the Swedes, Goths and Vandals; Grand Princess of Finland; Duchess of Estonia and Karelia; Lady of Ingria, etc.
This child is the divine offspring and the image of her father,
The hope of the kingdom, the delight of her mother, the darling of the world.
So young!
Reader, the oppressed Germany needs her,
And a nation hostile to freedom fears her.
But thou, Daughter, who repayest thy father with thy countenance,
And who darest to repay the good,
Be only thyself as thou livest out thine years.
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