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Rudolf Swoboda (1859–1914) was a 19th-century
He studied under his father, Eduard Swoboda, and his uncle Leopold Carl Müller, and traveled with him to
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n Orientalist painter. He was sometimes known as The Younger, to distinguish him from his uncle Rudolf, who was also an artist.
Biography
He studied under his father, Eduard Swoboda, and his uncle Leopold Carl Müller, and traveled with him to Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
in 1880. His sister was the portrait painter Josefine Swoboda, also well known for her portraits of the British Royal Family.
In 1886, Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
commissioned him to paint several of a group of Indian artisans who had been brought to Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original c ...
as part of the Golden Jubilee preparations. Victoria liked the resulting paintings so much that she paid his way to India to paint more of her Indian subjects.
He depicted many of the ordinary people of India in groups of paintings that were mostly small (no more than eight inches high).
While in India, he stayed, part of the time, with John Lockwood Kipling
John Lockwood Kipling (6 July 1837 – 26 January 1911) was an English art teacher, illustrator and museum curator who spent most of his career in India. He was the father of the author Rudyard Kipling.
Life and career
Lockwood Kipling was b ...
, and met his son Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
. The younger Kipling was unimpressed with Swoboda, writing to a friend about two "Austrian maniacs" who thought they were "almighty" artists aiming to "embrace the whole blazing East".
Upon his return from India, he also painted (in 1888 and 1889) two portraits of Abdul Karim (the Munshi)
Mohammed Abdul Karim (1863 — 20 April 1909), also known as "the Munshi", was an Indian attendant of Queen Victoria. He served her during the final fourteen years of her reign, gaining her maternal affection over that time.
Karim was born ...
, Victoria's favorite Indian servant.
Most of his Indian paintings hang at Osborne House
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in ...
, once Victoria's residence on the Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...
.
The record price paid for a Swoboda painting was for ''The Carpet Menders'', which sold in 2008 for US$2.6 million at Christie's.
See also
*List of Orientalist artists
This is an incomplete list of artists who have produced works on Orientalist subjects, drawn from the Islamic world or other parts of Asia. Many artists listed on this page worked in many genres, and Orientalist subjects may not have formed a m ...
Sources
* * Herbert Zemen (Ed.): ''Der Orientmaler Rudolf Swoboda. 1859–1914. Leben und Werk.'' Privately published, Zemen, Vienna 2004. *External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swoboda, Rudolf 1859 births 1914 deaths 19th-century Austrian painters 19th-century Austrian male artists 20th-century Austrian painters Artists from Vienna Austrian people of Czech descent Austrian male painters Austrian orientalists Orientalist painters 20th-century Austrian male artists