Franz Schubert by Wilhelm August Rieder 1875

Wilhelm August Rieder (October 30, 1796 – September 8, 1880), was an Austrian painter and draughtsman. Rieder was born in

Oberdöbling Oberdöbling (Central Bavarian: ''Obadöbling'') was an independent municipality until 1892 and is today a part of Döbling, the 19th district of Vienna. It is also one of the 89 Katastralgemeinden. Geography Oberdöbling lies in the south of ...

, the son of the composer Ambros Rieder (1771–1855). He studied 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 ...

, where he first met and befriended

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

. Schubert's brother

Ferdinand Schubert Ferdinand Schubert (born 18 October 1794 in Vienna; died 26 February 1859) was an Austrian composer and brother of Franz Schubert. He also designed the grave stone for the grave of Ludwig van Beethoven, which is now at Vienna's Central Cemetery ...

described Rieder's brother Johann as 'my only true friend' in a letter to Schubert on 3rd July 1824. Rieder's aquarell of Schubert from 1825 was supposedly started when Rieder sheltered from a rainstorm in Schubert's lodgings at the Fruhwirth-Haus (Technikerstrasse 9). Schubert's friends thought it was a very good likeness:

Leopold von Sonnleithner Leopold Andreas Ignaz Sonnleithner (from 1828 Leopold Edler von Sonnleithner; born 15 November 1797 in Wien; died 3 March 1873 in Vienna) was an Austrian lawyer and a well-known personality of the Viennese Classical music scene. He was a friend ...

called it 'the most like him', whilst

Josef von Spaun Joseph Freiherr von Spaun (November 11, 1788November 25, 1865) was an Austrian nobleman, an Imperial and Royal Councillor, lottery director, and honorary citizen of Vienna and Cieszyn. He is best known for his friendship with the composer Franz S ...

called it 'an extraordinarily good likeness'. He subsequently painted a number of Schubert's portraits. Rieder also painted a number of religious and historical themed works. He became professor of drawing at the Institute of Engineering in Vienna in 1825, and in 1855 was appointed to a similar post at the Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt. From 1857 he was assistant curator of paintings at the Belvedere palace.

References

* Constantin von Wurzbach : Rieder, Wilhelm August . In : Biographical Dictionary of the Empire of Austria. Volume 26, published by LC Zamarski, Vienna 1874, pp. 107–110 . * Art Auction by CJ Wawra : catalog of the artistic legacy of the history painter Wilhelm August Rieder, Vienna: CJ Wawra, 1881. * Wilhelm August Rieder. In : Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker, among others : general lexicon of visual artists from antiquity to the present. Volume XXVIII, E. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1934, p 322 * Prof. August Bangert : The 100th Death of W. A. Rieder, Perchtoldsdorf, 1980. * G. Wacha : Wilhelm August Rieder . In : Austrian Biographical Encyclopaedia 1815-1950 ( ÖBL) . Volume 9 Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, 1988, , page 140 * Otto Erich Deutsch (ed.): Schubert: Memoirs by his friends (translation of the German edition, Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, 1957 by Rosamond Ley and John Nowell), Wiesbaden : Breitkopf & Härtel, 1995, . * Otto Erich Deutsch (ed.): Schubert a documentary biography, Dent, London 1946 * Ernst Hilmar : Schubert mage Biography , Graz : Akademische Druck-u Verlagsges, 2 . revised edition, 1996, . * Wilhelm August Rieder. In : Peter Clive: Schubert and his World, Oxford 1997. 1796 births 1880 deaths Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni {{Austria-painter-stub