Margareta Capsia

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Margareta Capsia, (Sweden 1682- Turku 1759), was a Finnish artist, the first professional native female artist in Finland. She mainly painted altarpieces, but was also active as a portrait painter.

[edit] Biography and career

Capsia was born in Sweden as the child of Gottfried Capsia and Anna Schultz and married the priest Jacob Gavelin in Stockholm in 1719. After the Great Northern War in 1721 they mowed to Vasa in Finland, were Margareta became known as an altarpiece painter in Österbotten. In 1730, they mowed to Turku, were she became a famous artist in all Finland. Her altarpieces where described as individual illustratings of the bible, and she was regarded as one of the best paintiers in the genre togheter with Mikael Toppelius. She painted the altarpieces of a long line of churches, such as in the churches of Paltamo in 1727 and Säkylan in 1739.