Cajsa Warg

Are you familiar with the expression “use what you have”? It is usually attributed to cookbook author Cajsa Warg, but she actually never wrote that. In several recipes, however, she did write “you take, if you can”. For several decades during the 18th and 19th centuries, Warg’s 1755 book Hjelpreda i Hushållningen För Unga Fruentimber (Guide to Housekeeping for Young Women) was one of the most influential cookbooks in Sweden. It was published in fourteen Swedish editions and in four German, one Finnish and one Estonian edition.

In addition to recipes, the book contained general instructions on housekeeping, including instructions for plant dyeing and cures for livestock diseases.

This sculpture arrived due to the expansion of Stadsparken’s herb garden. Örebro läns Trädgårdsaktiebolag, which is responsible for purchasing art for Stadsparken, wanted a memorial to Cajsa Warg, or Anna Christina Warg, which was her real name. Warg was born in Örebro and died in 1769 in Stockholm. During her childhood in Örebro, she lived in the so-called “Burgher’s House”, which is now located in Wadköping. That it would be Kajsa Mattas that got the commission was decided through a competition between her and two other selected artists.

Simple and pure representations of figures that draw parallels to archaic sculptural art are characteristic of Kajsa Mattas’s sculptures. Spirituality and calm go hand and hand in her art. The motifs are often taken from the Bible or another Christian tradition. One example of this is her sculpture The Christ-Bearer in Slottsparken.