Júlíana Sveinsdóttir

Júlíana Sveinsdóttir (31 July 1889 – 1966)

was one of Iceland’s first female painters and textile artists. Taught initially by prominent Icelandic artist Þórarinn B. Þorláksson, Sveinsdóttir settled in Denmark and returned to Iceland in the summers, the visits inspiring her landscape paintings, one of which won the Eckersberg Medal in 1947.

Sveinsdóttir was an active supporter of artists and the arts. She was an early member of the Danish Female Artists’ Society, and sat on the boards of the Charlottenborg Exhibition and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Though best known for her painting, Sveinsdóttir was also a significant artist working in textiles, her commissions including a rug that decorated the court chamber of the Supreme Court in Copenhagen.