Above the stove, Haartman has depicted Saint Birgitta, founder of the Bridgettine Order. The picture is apparently based on an original medieval altarpiece. Saint Birgitta also appears in the centre of the ceiling, where  she is shown receiving a prophecy at her writing desk. The ceiling further depicts the plans for the Vadstena convent, the Bridgettine Order’s mother house in Sweden, as well as the  medieval Bridgettine abbey in Naantali.

On the ceiling, Axel painted a rowan leaf with a sprig of rowanberries. This was an important symbol for him, as the berries represented the couple’s summer house, Rönnudd (meaning “Rowan headland”), in Kimito. Rönnudd was built in the 1890s by Axel’s mother Hedvig. Rowanberries can be found elsewhere in Casa Haartman too. Sometimes Axel used clusters of rowanberries in his signature when signing his paintings.

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