After the turn of the century in 1900, anders zorn emerged as an ardent supporter of the culture of his hometown, where the goal was to make dalian local culture a national concern. Zorn's craze for his hometown could be directly expressed in the form of property acquisitions as well as extensions and additions to the existing property portfolio. The studio in mora, originally an ancient firehouse from fåsås, was soon supplemented with another timber building, the so-called the risaloft, which was built in connection with the studio next to zorngården's main entrance. Further spurred on by his architectural antiquarian projects with their associated influence on his artistry, zorn began to yearn for a fisherman's cabin of his own. Zorn had already found a suitable place: "opposite gobsberget and the mouth of gopelån where the mountain reflected all its majesty in the water". Zorn acquired a completely preserved cottage from 1766, "one of the only ones left with a gable roof in mora", bought the plot in question and then had the cottage built with the help of his uncles lars and per. According to zorn, the location could not have been better chosen: "sky-high furrows and firs and at its foot a lovely spring stream, then on the other side of the cabin the flowing dalälven and beyond this the stately gopsberget. It was ideal and i already started the following summer to stay there as soon as the cottage was finished". Zorn often returned to: "gopsmorsstugan, this so peaceful and for my art and health so important nook among soaring firs and with the dalälven rippling its way to the sea beyond". Often he also received visitors, academy member karlfeldt spent the night in the cabin and bruno liljefors traveled there to have his portrait painted in the winter-white spruce forest. Usually zorn worked at gopsmor at least two periods a year. Winter time usually in january and summer time just before midsummer. Above all, it concerned models depicted in the firelight of the cabin or in the process of some outdoor activity. It was in this peculiar environment that gammal spegel was executed in 1915. When the following year the painting was included in the prestigious opening of liljevalch's art gallery in stockholm, it aroused great admiration. Johnny roosval, for example, gave it a nice analysis in his review. Gerda boëthius' description of the artwork also clarifies its meaning:
"one of the finest works in gopsmor these years is 'old mirror'. The scene is, as usual, geometrically clearly constructed and the table provides the diagonal, while the models repeat a form and chord of line. The light comes from the window on the left, but also from the gable and half the girl's body is in shadow. The air is warm from the invisible fire of the stove. The color is deep and musty, the red hair bands shine like corals and the gold in the small mirror's earthy frame sparkles. It can be questioned whether zorn ever reached higher when it came to painting a naked female body, and the play of light is as masterfully depicted as in bread baking, margit, red sand and other of his greatest works". The painting was previously part of director axel jacobsen's famous collection where it was joined by significant works by artists such as carl larsson, bruno liljefors, prince eugen and nils kreuger. Object Type: painting. Date: 1915. Place of creation: Mora, Sweden. Dimensions: height: 122 cm (48 in); width: 92 cm (36.2 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Private collection. Anders Zorn - Old Mirror 1915
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