Divine Service by the Sea

On the islands of the Pellinki archipelago, off the southern coast of Finland, fishing families could rarely spare the hours to sail to church on the mainland, so services were sometimes held for them out of doors. Albert Edelfelt watched one during a boat trip in his home region and later rebuilt the scene from his sketches, using relatives and local people as models. A pastor in black stands at a table draped in white, with a cross of green leaves pinned to the cloth. His congregation sits on rocks, grass and a rough plank bench beside a log hut, hymn books in hand, and a young woman in pink bends over hers. Edelfelt signed and dated the canvas 1881. At the Salon of 1882 the French state bought it, the first Finnish work it ever acquired.