QotD: "It is singular that / the Swedes / have produced no distinguished painters or composers -- but, indeed, a Linnæus."

"I have seen, even beyond Umeå, some fine specimens of cactus, pelargonium, calla, and other exotics. It is singular that, with the universal passion of the Swedes for flowers and for music, they have produced no distinguished painters or composers -- but, indeed, a Linnæus." - Northern Travel Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland (1869) by Bayard Taylor 

Not true of course by our more 21st century standards! And Uppsala certainly has Linnaeus! Hotels, cafes, streets, etc., etc.

A few years earlier (and again in the 1870s), Bayard Taylor (1825-1878) was an American poet, literary critic, translator, and travel author. He published a couple of books on Egypt which is where I'd first heard of him when writing my book on Egyptian travel accounts, Nile Notes of a Howadji (1992).