Photo: Karolina Kristensson, SMM

When Vasa left the wharf on the 10th of August 1628, she was gleaming with bold colours. Now, for the first time, museum visitors can obtain a sense of the colourful splendour of Vasa and how she probably looked when she embarked on her maiden voyage. The model (scale 1:10) of the ship has been painted and nearly 500 sculptures have been clothed in colour. Follow us behind the scenes and read about how the work with the model was done!

Designer Agneta Wolfbrandt fills in details of the colour manuscript.
Photo: Carolina Blaad, SMM

There are books, pens, pictures, and large sheets of paper spread out on a table in a studio in the Vasa Museum. This is where the extensive sketching and research work in preparation for painting is being done. Designer and project leader Agneta Wolfbrandt leans over the bold colours of a sketch. She is in the process of creating a colour manuscript of all the details of the ship that once was painted.

The model was produced by four model makers at the National Maritime Museum in Stockholm. The work took 12,000 hours to complete and the model was in place in the ship hall when the museum first opened 18 years ago. Then only the hatch covers over the cannon portals with their lion masks and the symbol of the royal dynasty, the Vasa coat of arms, were painted. But after extensive research, the principles for its painting are now known, and thus it is possible to offer a probable interpretation of what Vasa looked like when she left the wharf.

Vasa’s stern ablaze with colour and gilding. Drawing by Agneta Wolfbrandt.
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Extensive research
Research on the sculptures and ornamentation of Vasa has been ongoing ever since the work to reconstruct the ship was started. Research on the painting of the ship began in 1990. At that time very little was known about how sculptures were painted in the 17th century.

Peter Tångeberg, art historian and conservator, has been doing research on the colours of the ship for over 10 years. He has studied religious art, for example, from the same period in order to obtain the best possible picture of the colours and metals that may have been used and of how sculptures were being painted at the time Vasa was built. Over a thousand fragments of paint have been analyzed and approximately 20 different pigments have been identified. Basic knowledge of what Vasa looked like in 1628 has been obtained thanks to many years of research on colour. Results have enabled the reconstruction of a number of paints used on Vasa’s sculptures, and painted copies are now being shown in the Power and Glory exhibition at the museum.

Like music
Vasa is ornamented with lions, dolphins, cherubs, devils, Roman emperors, mermaids, bunches of fruit and acanthus leaves.
Many sculptures are painted true to life with gilded details, such as hair, beards, and belts. While the choice of colours is sometimes given, in some cases—with clothing and equipment, for example—it is necessary to rely on the principles of how red and green, warm and cold tones, interact. No colour is allowed to dominate the overall impression; the colour composition is like music with its set structure and a rhythm that can sometimes take an unexpected break.
- Making the colour manuscript is like solving a difficult sudoku, explains Agneta.

Ingvar Jörpeland is the one who will then follow the colour manuscript. He produced the 500 sculptures that ornament the model 18 years ago and is now being given the opportunity to enliven them with oil paints.
- It’s fun to see them again, though a bit intricate, he says.

Peter Tångeberg, Ingvar Jörpeland and Agneta Wolfbrandt look over the colour manuscript.
Photo: Carolina Blaad, SMM

Everything has a meaning
Vasa is an enormous art treasure and it’s not just a delight to the eye. Every sculpture and detail means something and tells of how King Gustav II Adolph wanted the surrounding world to perceive Sweden and himself. The ornamentation was a way of presenting the king to his own people, to Europe, to friends, as well as to his enemies. The Bible, Greek myths, and Roman antiquity were sources of inspiration for the sculptures. As she studies the ornamentation, Agneta is constantly discovering new details and small things that deviate from the patterns and break the symmetry, offering surprises. If you look really closely at a series of Roman soldiers you can see that all are wearing plumed helmets or hats, but one has a laurel wreath on his head instead.
- I’m increasingly fascinated by all the details that emerge as they are coloured, says Agneta.

The boldly colourful model was unveiled on the 21st of May and is now on exhibition on the entry-level of the Vasa Museum. Researchers, curators, model makers, technicians, photographers, and designers have participated in the project.

Text: Carolina Blaad and Agneta Wolfbrandt, SMM
Translated with the assistance of Interverbum.

 Film - take a look at the work with the model. Click at the link, choose English category

 Close-up of the model


 Colour scheme


 Read more about the colours of Vasa