August Malmström

Children motifs play a significant role in August Malmström's oeuvre, particularly within his genre painting. Today, we know of about 40 oil paintings by the artist featuring children, in addition to numerous sketches, replicas, and lithographs. "Vill frun köpa?" (Would the lady like to buy?) is one of the most famous children motifs from Malmström's later period. Around the mid-19th century, he resumed painting children but now did so in larger formats which allowed for a freer brushwork and new compositional patterns. Tomas Björk writes about the motif: "In the interplay between the richly varied shades of blue, red, and brown, the painting is one of the most colouristically refined among the artist's later children motifs."

The painting in the auction is an unsigned replica of the original painting. It was common for Malmström to create replicas of his most popular works. The first version was usually shown at a major exhibition, and if the motif was well-received by the audience, the artist typically received commissions for additional versions. Regarding the current replica up for auction, Björk writes: "In the estate, there was such a version of 'Vill frun köpa?' which, by all accounts, was created after the exhibited version. It is unsigned but possesses the finish associated with other executed works. Malmström also introduced a few minor changes that are only noticeable upon close inspection. Almost the entire motif has been copied from the original version, but the toy horse has been moved to the foreground, and the shawl around the shoulders of the seated girl has been omitted. In replicas, Malmström seems to have avoided creating a direct copy of the original version. This approach may indicate that he believed improvements were always possible, or he wanted to endow his replicas with the status of 'originals'."