Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lundgren, Egron Sellif
LUNDGREN, EGRON SELLIF (1815–1875), water-colour painter, born at Stockholm in Sweden on 18 Dec. 1815, was educated to be an engineer. Having a taste for art, he studied first in the academy at Stockholm, and afterwards in Paris, where he worked for a time under Léon Cogniet. He then travelled in Switzerland and Italy, devoting himself to painting in water-colours. While on the continent he made the acquaintance of John Phillip, R.A. [q. v.], and from 1849 to 1852 resided at Seville. On his return to England the queen gave him commissions for some ceremonial pictures and other subjects. On the outbreak of the Indian mutiny in 1857 Lundgren was sent, at the expense of Mr. Agnew, to accompany Sir Colin Campbell's relief expedition on the campaign in Oudh. He made a series of about five hundred sketches on the spot, including numerous portraits. These sketches were exhibited on his return, and purchased by Samuel Mendel of Manley Hall, Staffordshire, and after the latter's death were sold by auction at Christie's on 16 April 1875. Lundgren was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-colours in 1864, and a full member in 1865. He subsequently made extensive tours abroad, and finally settled in Sweden. The king of Sweden made him a knight of the order of Gustavus Vasa in 1861, and ten years later he paid a short visit to England. He died at Stockholm on 12 Dec. 1875. There are two pictures by him, of ‘San Vitale, Ravenna,’ and ‘The Library, Siena,’ in the National Museum at Stockholm. A picture of ‘The Relief of Lucknow’ was painted by Thomas Jones Barker [q. v.] (engraved by C. G. Lewis), from Lundgren's sketches, and is now in the Corporation Galleries at Glasgow (Cat. of Victorian Exhibition, 1891–2, No. 147). Lundgren published a series of illustrations to ‘Old Swedish Fairy Tales’ in 1875, and in 1870 some extracts from his travelling diaries, including ‘Letters from Spain and Italy’ and ‘Letters from India.’ His drawings were much esteemed for richness of colour.
[Seubert's Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Times, 14 April 1875; information from George Scharf, esq., C.B., F.S.A.]