Johann Rombauer ( hu, Rombauer János, sk, Ján Rombauer; 28 May 1782 – 12 February 1849) was a portrait painter in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. He also worked for a time in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He was a representative of the

Biedermeier The ''Biedermeier'' period was an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle class grew in number and the arts appealed to common sensibilities. It began with the Congress of Vienna at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in ...

artistic style in Hungary.

Biography

He came from an

ethnic German , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

family of nine children. He was born in Lőcse,

Upper Hungary Upper Hungary is the usual English translation of ''Felvidék'' (literally: "Upland"), the Hungarian term for the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been ...

(present-day Levoča,

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). His father, David Rombauer (1742–1806), an ethnic German Protestant, was a woodcarver. He may have studied with the Danish-born painter, in Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica). At the age of nineteen, he began working as a portraitist in Pest (today

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 ...

). His first known

miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or probl ...

dates from 1802. Around 1805, probably in Bártfa (Bardejov), he met the Polish aristocrat, who, at that time, was in the service of the Russian government. Impressed by his talent, he invited him to his estate near Romaniv, in present-day

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. By 1806, he was living and working in Saint Petersburg; teaching as well as painting. In 1818, he married Amalie Baumann (c.1795–1843), a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

. During his stay, he became a member of the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

and took part in their exhibitions.

Vladimir Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (russian: Влади́мир Луки́ч Боровико́вский, ukr, Володи́мир Лýкич Боровикóвський, ; July 24 O.S. (August 4, N.S.) 1757, Mirgorod – April 6 O.S. (April 18, N. ...

and

Orest Kiprensky Orest Adamovich Kiprensky (russian: Орест Адамович Кипренский -) was a leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism. His most familiar work is probably his portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1827), which prompted the ...

seem to have had a significant influence on his style. He and his wife returned to Hungary in 1824 and settled in

Eperjes Eperjes is a village in Szentes District of Csongrád County, in the Southern Great Plain region of southern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single ...

(Prešov), where his brothers Matthäus (1776–1840), a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...

, and Samuel (born 1798), a butcher, both lived. Their only child, Matilda, was born in 1829. He painted numerous portraits of the nobility, Hungarian as well as Russian, and many prominent citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1835, he received a commission to paint portraits of the faculty at the Lutheran College. He also created religious works. Altogether, he is known to have created 248 works, although many have been lost. His surviving works may be seen in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

, the

Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея, ''Gosudarstvennaya Tretyâkovskaya Galereya''; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered th ...

, the

Hungarian National Gallery The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the works ...

and the

Slovak National Gallery The Slovak National Gallery ( sk, Slovenská národná galéria, abbreviated SNG) is a network of galleries in Slovakia. It has its headquarters in Bratislava. The gallery was established by law on 29 July 1949. In Bratislava, it has its display ...

.Beńová, Katarína (ed.): ''Ján Rombauer (1782 - 1849): Levoča - Petrohrad - Prešov.'' Bratislava: Slovenská národní galerie, 2010.

Selected portraits

Ján Rombauer - Portrait of Countess Barkóczy - O 2908 - Slovak National Gallery.jpg, Countess Barkóczy Rombauer fessler.jpg,

Ignaz Aurelius Fessler Ignaz Aurelius Fessler, aka Feßler ( hu, Fessler Ignác Aurél; 18 May 1756 – 15 December 1839) was a Hungarian ecclesiastic, politician, historian, and freemason. Biography Fessler was born in the village of Zurndorf in the Hungarian Moson ...

Kutaisova Lopukhina by Rombauer.jpg, Praskovya Kutaisova, wife of Pavel Kutaisov Vladislav Aleksandrovič Ozerov.jpg,

Vladislav Ozerov Vladislav Aleksandrovich Ozerov (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович О́зеров) (11 October 1769 – 17 September 1816) was the most popular Russian dramatist in the first decades of the 19th century. Ozerov wrote five ...

Józef August Iliński.jpg, Józef August Iliński

References

External links

Biography and paintings
@ ''Napoleon and Revolution'' (blog) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rombauer, Jan 1782 births 1849 deaths Hungarian-German people Hungarian painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists Portrait painters People from Levoča