Lars Nylander

Short presentation

I am working on the project Haaken Gulleson and late medieval wooden sculpture in Norrland, 2026-2028, 50 %.

Curator/antiquarian at Hälsinglands museum.

Research

The Research Project Haaken Gulleson and Late Medieval Wooden Sculpture in Northern Sweden explores medieval altarpieces and wooden sculpture in the northern Swedish provinces, with a particular focus on the painter and workshop master Haaken Gulleson, who lived in Hälsingland and was active in southern Norrland during the early sixteenth century.

During the late Middle Ages, a large number of richly decorated altarpieces and sculptures were commissioned for churches across northern Sweden. Many of these works are still preserved today. Norrland differs from much of the rest of Europe in its social and geographical conditions: there was no nobility, the peasantry was free, and churches were often located far from urban centres and guild structures.

The project aims to increase knowledge of how altarpieces and sculptures were commissioned, produced, and used in Norrland during the late Middle Ages and in the period following the Reformation. A central research question concerns the functioning of local workshops and their relationship to imported art from regions such as Flanders, Lübeck, and Tallinn. The study also examines why certain parishes accumulated unusually large collections of sculpture and how these objects continued to be used after the Reformation.

Methodologically, the project is grounded in Material Culture theory, which treats the objects themselves as historical sources. By analysing the sculptures’ style, materials, alterations, and histories of use, object-based studies are combined with archival research. A comprehensive catalogue of both surviving and archivally documented sculptures will be compiled.

The project is conducted in collaboration with Hälsinglands Museum.

Principal Investigator: Lars Nylander

Funding: Berit Wallenberg Foundation