Karl Ruß (4 August 1779,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

- 19 September 1843, Vienna) was an Austrian painter in the Biedermeier style.

Life and work

He was born to a poor family. When they moved to Neustadt, he began to display some artistic talent, and received lessons from local artists. They returned to Vienna in 1793, and he was able to enroll at the

Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...

. He initially studied flower painting with Johann Baptist Drechsler, then landscapes with Johann Christian Brand. Following Brand's death, in 1795, he switched to history painting, with

Hubert Maurer Hubert Maurer (10 June 1738, Bonn - 10 December 1818, Vienna) was a German painter, graphic artist and art professor. Life and work He began as a student of the Bavarian court painter, Johann Georg Winter (1707-1770). He continued his educatio ...

as his instructor. After graduation, he made his living painting portraits and working for booksellers. He also studied

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and

copper engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

. He was married in 1806 and, thanks to some recently acquired patronage, was hired to work on decorative paintings at the

Albertina The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well ...

. In addition, he executed wall paintings for Count Johann Philipp Staadion and decorative work for Duke Albert Casimir, as well as being part of a group that worked for the Empress Consort, Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este. Despite this success, the loss of a pension, which he had been planning to use for studies in Italy, caused his financial situation to become unstable and he had to return to portrait painting. Thanks to a recommendation from the landscape painter, Christoph Heinrich Kniep, he was introduced to Archduke John of Austria, who was looking for a "Kammermaler" (Chamber Painter). Ruß was engaged and accompanied him on hikes throughout Styria; making sketches and finding motifs for his favorite types of art. His most important commission involved a series of watercolors, depicting the native costumes of that region; from the bourgeoisie to the peasants. These works preserve all that is authentically known about their clothing for the period of 1810 to 1820. Later, the folklorist, , included many of Ruß' images in his definitive book on Styrian costumery (''Steirisches Trachtenbuch'', 1932). From 1821, he served as the first Custodian of the Picture Gallery at

Belvedere Palace The Belvedere is a historic building complex in Vienna, Austria, consisting of two Baroque palaces (the Upper and Lower Belvedere), the Orangery, and the Palace Stables. The buildings are set in a Baroque park landscape in the third district o ...

, a position that he held for three years. Once again, he was able to find patrons, including some in France, and had a busy career, with a constant stream of commissions. In 1843, he fell ill with "

dropsy Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels tight, the area ma ...

of the chest" and died a short time later, aged sixty-four. His son,

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...

, was also a painter. A street in Vienna's

Hietzing Hietzing () is the 13th municipal District of Vienna (german: 13. Bezirk, Hietzing). It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling. Hietzing is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also contains lar ...

district was named after them in 1927.

Sources

* Eduard Melly: ''Karl Russ. Umriss eines Künstlerlebens'', Vienna 1844
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External links

More works by Ruß
@ ArtNet {{DEFAULTSORT:Russ, Karl 1779 births 1843 deaths Austrian painters Austrian portrait painters History painters Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Deaths from edema Artists from Vienna