Franz Eisenhut ( Hungarian: ''Eisenhut Ferencz'';

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

: ''Франц Ајзенхут''; 25 January 1857 – 2 June 1903) was a prominent Danube Swabian Realist and Orientalist painter. He is considered one of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

's greatest academic painters in the second half of the 19th century. His most famous and recognizable paintings include ''Death of Gül Baba'', ''Battle of Zenta'', ''Slave trade'' and ''Cock fighting'' and many other, depicting mostly motifs from the Orient. His works can be found in many European museums across the continent.

Biography

Franz Eisenhut was born in Nova Palanka,

Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar , conventional_long_name = Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banate , common_name = Serbia and Banat , subdivision = Crownland , nation = the Austrian Empire , year_start = 1849 , date_start = 18 November , year_end = 1860 , date_end = ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

(today Bačka Palanka,

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province,

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) in a German family. His father, Georg Eisenhut was from Palanka, and his mother Theresia Sommer was from Bukin. His father had hoped for Franz to become a merchant, but the Hungarian painter Telepy Károly discovered his talent for painting. Influential citizens of Palanka at the time, led by lawyer Karl Mezey and pharmacist Karlo Harliković, collected money for his studies. He studied at Hungarian Royal Drawing School in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

from 1875 until 1877. Afterwards, he became a student of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in

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. He studied there until 1883 in class of

Gyula Benczúr Gyula Benczúr (28 January 1844, Nyíregyháza – 16 July 1920, Szécsény) was a Hungarian painter and art teacher. He specialized in portraits and historical scenes. Biography His family moved to Kassa when he was still very young and he di ...

, the Hungarian painter. After finishing the Academy, he went on a trip to the Orient for the first time, visiting the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. The next year, he held his first exhibition in

. The Orient became his main source of inspiration and Orientalist paintings will become his most famous works. In 1883 and 1884, he went to the Caucasus once again, visiting

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

and Baku. In 1886 and 1887, he traveled from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

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and

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. His first great success was the 1886 painting "Healing through the

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". Many of his paintings were reproduced by woodcutting workshops across Europe, because, as his friend Lyka Karoly claimed, "his paintings showed the authentic Orient". Lyka Karoly also gave a detailed description of Eisenhut's studio in Munich, which was located at Mozartstrasse 13/4. Another famous painting made at the time was ''Death of Gül Baba'', for which he won the State Gold Medal at an exhibition in Budapest. Afterwards, he had exhibitions in

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and

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. In 1894, he painted the interior of New York Palace in Budapest. Eisenhut's most famous work is the painting "Battle of Zenta", made in 1896 for the Hungarian Millennium Exhibition, celebrating 1000 years since the Hungarian settlement in the

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. The painting was ordered by the Bács-Bodrog County and is still exhibited in

Sombor Sombor ( sr-Cyrl, Сомбор, ; hu, Zombor; rue, Зомбор, Zombor) is a city and the administrative center of the West Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The city has a total population of 47,623 (), while ...

City Hall, as Sombor was the county seat at the time. This painting, with dimensions of 7x4 meters, is the largest oil painting in the

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today. In 1897, he returned to Palanka, where he married Adriana Reichl, daughter of Friedrich Reichl, owner of the Reichl cement factory in Neu-Palanka and brother of the famous architect from Apatin. Franz Reichl. In 1898 they had a daughter, who died soon afterwards on their journey to Samarkand, when the family was returning from Emirate of Bukhara. Eisenhut was invited to Bukhara personally by the Emir 'Abd al-Ahad Khan. In 1901, their second daughter Judith was born, and in 1903, Eisenhut 's only son Franz Georg, who was later the founder of leather industry Merkur in Bačka Palanka. However, Eisenhut got seriously ill while in Munich and died on 2 June 1903. He was buried in the Ostfriedhof cemetery in Munich. A street in Palanka was named "Eisenhutgasse" after him.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenhut, Franz 1857 births 1903 deaths Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Austrian male painters Bačka Palanka Burials at the Ostfriedhof (Munich) Danube-Swabian people German diaspora in Europe History of Bačka Hungarian University of Fine Arts alumni Orientalism Orientalist painters Realist painters 19th-century Austrian painters 19th-century male artists 20th-century Austrian painters 20th-century male artists