Carl Abraham Arfwedson

Carl Abraham Arfwedson (1774-1861) was a Swedish silk merchant, director and etching artist.

Carl Abraham Arfwedson was born to the rich trade merchant Carl Kristoffer Arfwedson and Charlotta von Langenberg and brother of Charlotta Arfwedson. He was raised to take over the successful trading company Tottie & Arfwedson of his father and grandfather, and made several study trips abroad. One of them was made to the French firm Clary in Marseilles, were he spent some time employed in the company of Clary, whose daughter Désirée Clary was eventually to be the queen consort of Sweden. He returned to Sweden permanently in 1808 and took over the company as director upon the death of his father in 1826. He was elected to serve as director of the Swedish East India Company for a period. During the 1810s, he owned the villa Listonhill in Stockholm, which was for a period a center of the burgher upper class society life in the capital.

Carl Abraham Arfwedson is also known for his etchings, being a student of Jacob Gillberg in 1787, and some of his work is kept at the Gothenborg art museum.

After Marcelle Tascher de la Pagerie left Sweden, queen Désirée reportedly felt lonely and isolated; the queen then started to spend more time with Carl Abraham Arfwedson, who had lived in her home during her upbringing and with whom she liked to talk with of France, a friendship which caused rumors that they once had a romance.

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