The finnish artist Albert Edelfelt (1854-1905) achieved international fame for his portrait of Pasteur. In 1892 the National museum in Stockholm commissioned him to paint a "matching Swedish genious" - Viktor Rydberg. Edelfelt struggled with the task for two years but was dissatisfied with the result (now at the Swedish national portrait gallery). When Rydberg died the Students' union in Helsinki decided to honour him. For this occasion Edelfelt very quickly made a new portrait from his memory. This time - no longer hampered by the presence of his subject - he was much more successful, the weariness of the old scholar in his prison of books reaching almost mythical dimensions.