Magalotti och lodjan

Något om det ryska i Stockholm 1674

Abstract

In 1674 the Florentine diplomat Lorenzo Magalotti visited Stockholm and wrote a detailed account regarding Swedish, politics, people, architecture and everyday life. The written account is supplemented by 23 drawings made by an unknown artist. Magalottis account has been transcribed, translated and published at different occasions, in which the images have been interpreted and received captions. Several of these captions has been reproduced, regardless of the fact that they are recent interpretations rather than the words of Magalotti.

This article questions the interpretation of one of these images that has been interpreted as a skärgårdsfartyg (a vessel used in the Stockholm archipelago). Judging from the lapstrake hull, that has been joined together using sewing technique, the shape of the stem, the wide and shallow hull and the clothing of one of the persons aboard, this author suggest that it depicts a Russian lodja. Lodjas were frequently trafficking the waters of Stockholm, heading for or departing from the Russian trading station called Ryssgården, located at Södermalm. 

The name of the artist who made the illustrations for Magalotti is not known, but it is likely that they were made by Erik Palmquist. The Russian trade in Stockholm is not mentioned in Magalottis text. The article ends with a discussion on images and texts as historical sources. Drawing on the re-interpretation of the image it is argued that the artist has observed other aspects of Stockholm than Magalotti and that the manuscript actually comprises two different accounts; one expressed in text by Magalotti and one expressed through images made by an unknown artist.