Hans Makart 1840 Salzburg-1884 Wien

After receiving initial training in drawing, Hans Makart studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts from 1858 but left the following year to study under Josef Schiffmann in Munich. From 1861 he studied under Karl von Piloty. He later travelled with Piloty and Franz von Lenbach to London, Paris, Rome and Naples. In 1869 he was called to Vienna and subsequently became one of the most important artists of his era. Makart became a full member of the Munich artist’s cooperative “Künstlergenossenschaft” in 1871, became an honorary member of the Munich Academy of Fine Arts the following year and joined the Berlin Academy in 1874. His famous painting “Entrance of Emperor Charles V into Antwerp” earned him two Austrian medals as well as the French order of the Légion d‘honneur. In 1878 he received a professorship for history painting at the Vienna Academy and in 1879 a reception by the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects was held in his and Heinrich von Ferstel‘s honour on the Kahlenberg in Vienna. No other artist was as skilled as Makart in reinterpreting and reshaping old historic themes into new and modern motifs. His ability to render such themes in sensitive compositions which do justice to these momentous historic events, make Makart the master of Austrian history painting.