Adolf Gudfast (Gotthard) Werner (December 4, 1837 in Linköping, February 20, 1903 in Rome) was a Swedish caricaturist and history painter.
He was the son of physician Henrik Werner and Ida Werner, née Gradman. His father, a regimental physician in Linköping, died in 1849 and his mother moved to Stockholm when he began his art studies. He studied from 1857 to 1861 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts, where Georg von Rosen (a friend of Édouard Manet) was one of his fellow students.
During his stay at the Academy he was awarded the Meyerska Medal in 1859. In 1861 he travelled at his own expense to Antwerp, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. From Antwerp he moved with his mother to Paris, where he studied with Émile Signol.
Then he went to the south of France and Italy to nourish his palette of shimmering colors and lights inspired by Mediterranean landscapes.
In 1866 he moved to Seville and then to Rome in 1869, where he studied decorative painting of the High Renaissance.
In 1870 Queen Josefina awarded him a travel grant which enabled him to discover Europe.
Through Georg von Rosen he was commissioned to paint a series of pictures for the Bolinder house in Stockholm and returned to Sweden in 1876 to fulfil the commission. Despite continuing financial difficulties he continued his travels, spending the year 1881 in Florence and the following autumn in Bologna.

He returned to Sweden in 1883 to enter the competition for the wall decoration of the National Museum's vestibule. He settled in Kalmar for a while, but after receiving a prize for his proposal, he went to Egypt in 1884.
After a few brief returns to Sweden, he remained in Italy until his death. He became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1868 and participated in the Academy's exhibitions in 1866, 1868 and 1877.
He participated in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889 and in the exhibition of the Swedish Artists' Association in Stockholm in 1898. A commemorative exhibition was organized by the Artists' Association in Stockholm in 1904. His work consists of religious motifs and history paintings.

In this haunting painting by Adolf Gudfast (Gotthard) Werner, titled "The Broken Dream," a young shepherd boy rests melancholically beside his faithful dog, facing a broken ancient Greek vase.
Cupid, recognizable by his wings and bow, stands nearby, accompanied by Sappho, the Greek poet, and Euterpe, the muse of music. Bacchus, identifiable by his Thyrsus and the ivy he holds, also emerges into the scene, followed by satyrs and nymphs, evoking a Greek divine world. This work captures the essence of the shattered dream through a symbolic composition rich in mythology and emotion.