Oil painting. 60 x 55 cm.
2022
***
Commissioned portrait of TT, FL, Docent Jussi Nuorteva. He has served as the Director-General and National Archivist of the National Archives of Finland since 2003. He is the chairman of the Heraldic Board and the Chancellor of the Orders of the White Rose of Finland and the Lion of Finland.
The background of the painting is executed in a semi-abstract style and is significant to the work. Embedded in the background are patterns depicting blue and white scallops, which refer to the Nuorteva family coat of arms and its key heraldic elements. Additionally, the background includes references to the architecture of the National Archives – the place where Jussi served as Director-General for a long and distinguished career. Jussi posed for Svetlana Ruoho in her art studio in Espoo.
"The painter Svetlana Ruoho had painted an unusual and interesting portrait of my friend, mathematician Osmo Pekonen, dressed as an 18th-century nobleman. After seeing it, Osmo unequivocally told me, 'Svetlana will paint your portrait next.' After Osmo's sudden death from a medical emergency, I decided to fulfill his wish. I contacted Svetlana Ruoho, and so the process began. The artist wanted to know more about my background so she could pick out elements for the portrait. She took several photographs of me and asked me to send more. Then I sat in her model's chair. She observed me from different angles and then decided on the pose in which she wanted to paint me. She drew sketches, thought about the color palette, and finally, the actual painting work began. I visited Svetlana multiple times to sit as her model while she observed me from different angles. A sketch of the image was completed – in it, I was wearing a gray suit, although I had sat as a model in a dark blue one. She simply stated, 'Gray suits you better.' She was certainly right about that! The end result of the process was simply magnificent, and I was truly pleased with my portrait. Delicately distinguishing columns from the old research hall of the National Archives, where I often hosted events, were incorporated into the background. Also included were faintly discernible white roses and blue scallops – references to my activities as Chancellor of the Orders of the White Rose of Finland and the Lion of Finland and as chairman of the Heraldic Board of the National Archives. Painting the portrait had been a much more multidimensional project than I could have imagined! The artist had used her own vision and creativity in it. That made the portrait a work of art, not just a mere likeness" -Jussi Nuorteva.
