Johann Rombauer (, ; 28 May 1782 – 12 February 1849) was a portrait painter in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. He also worked for a time in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He was a representative of the

Biedermeier The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...

artistic style in Hungary.

Biography

He came from an

ethnic German Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War ...

family of nine children. He was born in Lőcse,

Upper Hungary Upper Hungary (, "Upland"), is the area that was historically the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, now mostly present-day Slovakia. The region has also been called ''Felső-Magyarország'' ( literally: "Upper Hungary"; ). During the ...

(present-day Levoča,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

). His father, David Rombauer (1742–1806), an ethnic German Protestant, was a woodcarver. He may have studied with the Danish-born painter, in Besztercebánya (Banská Bystrica). At the age of nineteen, he began working as a portraitist in Pest (today

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

). His first known miniature dates from 1802. Around 1805, probably in Bártfa (Bardejov), he met the Polish aristocrat, who, at that time, was in the service of the Russian government. Impressed by his talent, he invited him to his estate near

Romaniv Romaniv (; Dzerzhynsk in 1933–2003) is a rural settlement in Zhytomyr Raion, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine. Prior to the 2020 administrative reform, it was the administrative center of the former Romaniv Raion. Population: History Within the Ru ...

, in present-day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. By 1806, he was living and working in Saint Petersburg; teaching as well as painting. In 1818, he married Amalie Baumann (c.1795–1843), a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

. During his stay, he became a member of the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of th ...

and took part in their exhibitions.

Vladimir Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky ( – ) was a Russian artist of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He served at the court of Catherine the Great and dominated portraiture in Russia at the turn of the 19th century. Biography Vladimir Borovikovsky was born i ...

and

Orest Kiprensky Orest Adamovich Kiprensky (; – ) was a leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism. His most familiar work is probably his portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1827), which prompted the poet to remark that "the mirror flatters me." Bi ...

seem to have had a significant influence on his style. He and his wife returned to Hungary in 1824 and settled in

Eperjes Eperjes is a village in Szentes District of Csongrád-Csanád County, Csongrád County, in the Southern Great Plain List of regions of Hungary, region of southern Hungary. Geography It covers an area of and has a population of 380 people as of ...

(Prešov), where his brothers Matthäus (1776–1840), a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

, and Samuel (born 1798), a butcher, both lived. Their only child, Matilda, was born in 1829. He painted numerous portraits of the nobility, Hungarian as well as Russian, and many prominent citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary. In 1835, he received a commission to paint portraits of the faculty at the Lutheran College. He also created religious works. Altogether, he is known to have created 248 works, although many have been lost. His surviving works may be seen in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

, the

Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

, the

Hungarian National Gallery The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, ), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the w ...

and the

Slovak National Gallery The Slovak National Gallery (, abbreviated SNG) is a network of galleries in Slovakia. It has its headquarters in Bratislava. The gallery was established by law on 29 July 1949. In Bratislava, it has its displays situated in Esterházy Palace (' ...

.Beńová, Katarína (ed.): ''Ján Rombauer (1782 - 1849): Levoča - Petrohrad - Prešov.'' Bratislava: Slovenská národní galerie, 2010.

Selected portraits

Ján Rombauer - Portrait of Countess Barkóczy - O 2908 - Slovak National Gallery.jpg, Countess Barkóczy Rombauer fessler.jpg, Ignaz Aurelius Fessler Kutaisova Lopukhina by Rombauer.jpg, Praskovya Kutaisova, wife of

Pavel Kutaisov Count Pavel Ivanovich Kutaisov (Russian:Павел Иванович Кутайсов; 25 November 1780, Saint Petersburg - 9 March 1840, Tambov) — was a Georgians, Georgian born Russian Imperial Chamberlain (office), Chamberlain and Steward (o ...

Vladislav Aleksandrovič Ozerov.jpg, Vladislav Ozerov Józef August Iliński.jpg, Józef August Iliński

References

External links

Biography and paintings
@ ''Napoleon and Revolution'' (blog) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rombauer, Jan 1782 births 1849 deaths Painters from the Austrian Empire Expatriates in the Russian Empire Portrait painters People from Levoča