Alajos Stróbl (21 June 1856 – 13 December 1926) was a Hungarian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

and

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

. His work is characterised by sensitive realistic modelling and he became one of the most renowned sculptors of memorials in Hungary at the turn of the 20th century.

Biography

Born on 21 June 1856 at Királylehota,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

(today Kráľova Lehota,

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

), Stróbl was a pupil of Kaspar von Zumbusch between 1876 and 1880. He was a young sculptor when his statue of

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...

(1882) gained him widespread attention in Hungary. He created two statues for the façade and two sitting figures (''Erkel'' and ''Liszt'') for the entrance of the Opera. From then on, he became the most popular sculptor in Hungary of

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...

s. He sculpted the figure of

János Arany János Arany (; archaic English: John Arany; 2 March 1817 – 22 October 1882) was a Hungarian poet, writer, translator and journalist. He is often said to be the " Shakespeare of ballads" – he wrote more than 102 ballads that have been trans ...

in the grounds of the

Hungarian National Museum The Hungarian National Museum ( hu, Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum) was founded in 1802 and is the national museum for the history, art, and archaeology of Hungary, including areas not within Hungary's modern borders, such as Transylvania; it is not to ...

in 1893 and the

Matthias Fountain Matthias Fountain ( hu, Mátyás kútja, german: König Matthias Brunnen) is a monumental fountain group in the western forecourt of Buda Castle, Budapest. Alajos Stróbl’s Neo-Baroque masterpiece is one of the most frequently photographed landma ...

Buda Castle Buda Castle ( hu, Budavári Palota, german: link=no, Burgpalast) is the historical castle and palace complex of the King of Hungary, Hungarian Kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, although the massive Baroque architecture, Baroque ...

in 1904. Stróbl also made two funeral statues for the Hungarian branch of the Habsburg family which are in the Palatinal Crypt of Buda Castle. In 1906 he sculpted the equestrian statue of St. Stephen in the Fischer Bastion. That same year, he also completed the Semmelweis Memorial, which is now featured at the Rókus Hospital. In collaboration with

Kálmán Gerster Kálmán is an ancient Germanic origin Hungarian surname and male given name. Outside Hungary, the name occurs sometimes in the form Kalman. It was derived from the Germanic name: Koloman, Coloman or Kolman. The Germanic name Coloman has been ...

, Stróbl produced statues for the Kossuth

Mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be con ...

in 1907 and the Elizabeth Memorial. The statue of János Arany which was erected by Stróbl in 1910 can be now be seen in Nagykörös. The works of the Szécheny Memorial completed in 1914 lie in the city of

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

. He also created a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

memorial

apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The term h ...

of Károly Lotz, which is displayed in Stansted,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. His works of the 1920s such as the statue of Jókai (1921), the composition ''Reading Girls'' (1921), the Sándor Károlyi Memorial and the busts of József Eötvös and

now stand in prominent public places in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. Alajos Stróbl also created a great number of

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passag ...

portraits (''Self Portrait at Young Age'', 1878, ''Young Woman'', 1916–1918, ''Szinyei Merse'', 1919 and many others. ''Our Mother'', one of his major works, won him the Grand Prix Award at the World Exhibition in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. For a great deal of his career, Stróbl taught at the Hungarian Art School, now the Hungarian University of Fine Arts, and his influence was highly significant for Hungarian art during this period. He died in Budapest on 13 December 1926.

Selected works

File:Szent István Budapest Strobl.JPG, Sculpture of King Saint Stephen of Hungary, standing on the

, at Fishermen Bastion File:Mátyás 02.jpg,

File:Dobo Istvan Statue01.JPG, Sculpture of István Dobó, The hero of

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights. Eger is best known for its castle, thermal baths, baroque bu ...

, who defended the Eger castle in the Turkish wars in 1552 File:Szeged-szechenyi.jpg, Sculpture of

István Széchenyi Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék ( hu, sárvár-felsővidéki gróf Széchenyi István, ; archaically English: Stephen Széchenyi; 21 September 1791 – 8 April 1860) was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and wri ...

File:Monument to Poet János Arany, 1893.jpg, Monument to poet

, in garden of the

, Budapest File:Jokai-Budapest.jpg, Sculpture of Mór Jókai, world-famous novelist, in Budapest File:Semmelweis Ignác emlékmű, Stróbl Alajos, 1904-06.jpg, Monument of

Ignaz Semmelweis Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (; hu, Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", he discovered that t ...

, in Budapest File:Stróbl Alajos sírja.jpg, Tomb of Alajos Stróbl by Alajos Stróbl in Kerepesi Cemetery, Budapest Alajos Strobl, buist of Natalie Obrenović Queen of Serbia, plaster, Historical Museum of Serbia.jpg, Bust of

Natalija Obrenović Natalija Obrenović ( sr-Cyrl, Наталија Обреновић; 15 May 1859 – 8 May 1941), née Keshko ( ro, Natalia Cheșcu; russian: Наталья Кешко), known as Natalie of Serbia, was the Princess of Serbia from 1875 to 1882 and ...

Queen of Serbia, plaster, Historical Museum of Serbia

References

External links

Fine Arts in Hungary from the beginning to the mid 20th Century
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strobl, Alajos Hungarian sculptors 1856 births 1926 deaths Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery Hungarian University of Fine Arts faculty 20th-century sculptors 19th-century sculptors