In the versatile art of sculptor and draftsman Johan Tobias Sergel (1740-1814) Neoclassicism and Romanticism coexist, as do the public and the private, sublimity and caricature, image and self-image, and, by extension, fantasy and reality. At the same time, in Sergel's life, there ran, like a common thread, the opposition between the obviously socially gifted, exalted and celebrated artist on the one hand, and an artist's artist on the other, melancholic, innovative and provocative.

This book presents the artist in full, including these perceived contradictions in his life and art, where encounters between high and low are a recurring theme. Here, for the first time, a broader approach is taken to understand the phenomenon of Sergel and the significance of his work for the development of contemporary art and culture, both nationally and internationally: to ascertain why Sergel has been called "Sweden's foremost artist" ever since his own time.