Ester Ellqvist

Ester Ellqvist (Ausås, 1880 – Lake Vättern, 1918) was a Swedish artist associated with Modernism, also known for posing as a model for the works of her husband, the painter and illustrator John Bauer. Her career helps illustrate the position of women in Swedish art at the start of the twentieth century.

She trained at the technical school in Stockholm, today known as Konstfack, and then at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, from which she graduated in 1905. She also attended classes at A. Tallberg's school for etchers. Together with fellow students, she took part in a protest against the academy's conservative outlook, a movement that led to the influential Konstnärsförbundet. After marrying Bauer in 1906, the couple spent a year travelling through southern Germany and Italy, financed by his father. She posed for several of his works, including Fairy Princess.

By 1917 the marriage was under strain, and Ellqvist had largely set aside her own artistic ambitions. She died on 20 November 1918, together with her husband and their three-year-old son, when the SS Per Brahe sank in Lake Vättern, killing all 24 people on board.