Leopold Loeffler
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Leopold Loeffler, also spelled Löffler, (October 27, 1827 – February 6, 1898), was a Polish realist painter of the late Romantic period popular in the second half of the 19th century under the foreign partitions of Poland. Lithographic reproductions of his paintings were widely distributed among the members of the Kraków and Warsaw art societies, and frequently reprinted in popular periodicals owing to their historical references to Polish national uprisings and battlefronts, as well as their great attention to period detail. A member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts since 1866 and at the height of his artistic career, Leoffler was invited to Kraków by Polish national painter
Jan Matejko Jan Alojzy Matejko (; also known as Jan Mateyko; 24 June 1838 – 1 November 1893) was a Poles, Polish painting, painter, a leading 19th-century exponent of history painting, known for depicting nodal events from Polish history. His works includ ...
in 1877. There he accepted a position as professor at the expanding
School of Fine Arts The School of Fine Arts or College of Fine Arts is the official name or part of the name of several schools of fine arts, often as an academic part of a larger university. These include: The Americas North America *Alabama School of Fine ...
, but nevertheless remained a prolific artist for the rest of his life. Loeffler died in Kraków in 1898. His work can be found in the
National Museum of Poland "National Museum of Poland" is the common name for several of the country's largest and most notable museums. Poland's National Museum comprises several independent branches, each operating a number of smaller museums. The main branch is the Natio ...
, its regional branches and in the
Lviv National Art Gallery Borys Voznytsky Lviv National Art Gallery ( uk, Львівська Національна Галерея Мистецтв імені Бориса Возницького) is the largest art museum in Ukraine, with over 62,000 artworks in its colle ...


Life and work

Leopold Leoffler was born on October 27, 1827 in Rzeszów under the Austrian Partition, the son of an administrative officer Jan Leoffler (surname also Germanized as Löffler), and his wife Domicella ''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Dąbrowska. His father was an office manager locally before moving his family to
Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...
(now Lviv, Ukraine) in order to take up the position of a district secretary. Leopold went to school in Radymno, where his uncle Filip Loeffler was a post-master. Upon graduation, he enrolled at the Department of Philosophy of the
Lwów University The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
. At about that time, he also rediscovered his interest in painting and in 1845 left the partitioned Poland for Vienna, to continue his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts there. For the next 30 years Loeffler lived abroad, mostly in Austria (known as Austria-Hungary since 1867), but also in Munich and in Paris, where he continued his studies at the local art academies.
Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...
, where his family lived, became the easternmost province of the
Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
Empire. Leoffler embarked on a successful career as an artist, painting victorious battle scenes for
Archduke Rudolph Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainier, Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Cardinal-Archbishop of Olomouc (8 January 1788 – 24 July 1831), was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and an Austrian clergyman and noble. He was ...
among other prestigious commissions. His work was highly regarded by the court of Franz Joseph I of Austria and the Emperor himself, while his German-sounding name was also commercially advantageous. In 1866 he became a member of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. However, Leoffler left the imperial capital for Kraków in 1877, having been invited by Matejko to serve as Professor at the School of Fine Arts, expanded in 1873 as an independent institution of higher learning. Among his most prominent students were future luminaries of the
Young Poland Young Poland ( pl, Młoda Polska) was a modernist period in Polish visual arts, literature and music, covering roughly the years between 1890 and 1918. It was a result of strong aesthetic opposition to the earlier ideas of Positivism. Young Pola ...
movement including Stanisław Wyspiański,
Włodzimierz Tetmajer Włodzimierz Tetmajer (December 31, 1861 in Harklowa – December 26, 1923 in Kraków) was a Polish painter with works in collections of the Warsaw National Museum and Kraków. Biography Włodzimierz Tetmajer was born in Harklowa near Krako ...
, Leon Kowalski and Wojciech Weiss. He died in Kraków on February 6, 1898 at the age of 70.


Controversy

Although, Leopold Loeffler saw himself as the great supporter of freedom and national sovereignty, at least some of his commissions painted for the Austrian court inadvertently also glorified the military victories of the Habsburgs over less fortunate nations. In 1860 Loeffler produced a battle scene for Archduke Rudolf, showing the victorious Emperor
Rudolph I of Germany Rudolf I (1 May 1218 – 15 July 1291) was the first King of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death. Rudolf's election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which h ...
in 1278, destroying the Czech ruler Ottokar II of Bohemia in the Battle on the Marchfeld ( cz, Suché Kruty) at
Dürnkrut The Battle on the Marchfeld (''i.e. Morava Field''; german: Schlacht auf dem Marchfeld; cs, Bitva na Moravském poli; hu, Morvamezei csata) at Dürnkrut and Jedenspeigen took place on 26 August 1278 and was a decisive event for the history ...
. The battle was lost in an ambush attack, a dishonorable act by the rules of knighthood. Most importantly, it also took away the Czech hopes of freedom for centuries to come. Such ideologically motivated depictions of imperial history of Austria-Hungary did not contribute to Loeffler's popularity in his native land under the foreign domination.


Notes and references


Bibliography

* ''Polski słownik biograficzny'', vol. XVII, Wrocław, Warszawa, Kraków, Gdańsk 1972, pp. 513–514 * ''Słownik artystów polskich i obcych w Polsce działających (zmarłych przed 1966 r). Malarze, rzeźbiarze, graficy,'' vol. V, Warszawa 1993, {{DEFAULTSORT:Loeffler People from Rzeszów 19th-century Polish painters 19th-century Polish male artists 1827 births 1898 deaths Polish male painters