RUDOLF SWOBODA THE ELDER (1819-1859)
Hoher Dachstein (2, 995 m - 9,826 ft)
Austria
Austria
In Festlicher Almabtrieb im Hochgebirge, oil on canvas, 1840, Private collection
The mountain
Hoher Dachstein (2, 995m - 9,826ft) is a strongly karstic Austrian mountain, and the second highest mountain in the Northern Limestone Alps. It is situated at the border of Upper Austria and Styria in central Austria, and is the highest point in each of those states. Parts of the massif also lie in the state of Salzburg, leading to the mountain being referred to as the Drei-Lander-Berg ("three-state mountain"). The Dachstein massif covers an area of around 20x30 km with dozens of peaks above 2,500 m, the highest of which are in the southern and south-western areas. Seen from the north, the Dachstein massif is dominated by the glaciers with the rocky summits rising beyond them. By contrast, to the south, the mountain drops almost vertically to the valley floor (see above).
The summit was first reached in 1832 by Peter Gappmayr, via the Gosau glacier, after an earlier attempt by Erzherzog Karl via the Hallstätter glacier had failed. Within two years of Gappmayr's success a wooden cross had been erected at the summit. The first person to reach the summit in winter was Friedrich Simony, on 14 January 1847. The sheer southern face was first climbed on 22 September 1909 by the brothers Irg and Franz Steiner.
The painter
Rudolf Swoboda the elder or Senior (1819-1859) was a landscape and animal painter, coming from a Vienna family of artists with his niece Josefine Swoboda (1861-1924) ans his nephew Rudolf Swoboda the younger or Junior (1859-1914) famous to have painted Indian portraits for Queen Victoria. Rudolf Swoboda the elder received numerous orders from the Austrian imperial house and other noble houses in Vienna which made him one of the most active Vienna landscapists. His landscapes often includes scenes with farmers playing music and dancing or animals depictions in a gentle and naive atmosphere.
2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau
