Husaby Church and Royal Palace, Pl. 57 — Suecia

A finely engraved double plate combining the Spring of Saint Sigfrid with the medieval royal church and palace at Husaby in Västergötland.

The upper image depicts the spring where King Olof Skötkonung was reputedly baptised in 1008, with Husaby church and royal palace beyond; the lower image shows the sepulchral monument to Olof in the church cemetery. Drawn by Erik Dahlbergh. From Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna, Volume III, Plate 57. Published in Stockholm, c. 1700.

Husaby was the legendary site of the conversion of Sweden to Christianity and one of the most charged places in the country's national mythology. Dahlbergh's plate consciously yokes baptismal spring and royal tomb together, asserting the unbroken continuity of the Christian Swedish monarchy from its 11th-century origins to the Carolean present.

Copperplate engraving. Sheet size approximately 42.0 × 32.0 cm. Good, with some age-toning and minor edge wear.