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Male Portrait

Karl Schweikart

Basic information

ID: Ж-4780
Author: Karl Schweikart
Name: Male Portrait
Date of creation: 1821
Country: Austrian Empire
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm): 61 x 47.5

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait
Provenance: Purchased from a private individual

Information about author

Author: Karl Schweikart
Artist's lifetime: 1772–1855
Country: Germany, Austrian Empire
Biography: Karl Gottlieb Schweikart (February 28, 1772, Ludwigsburg, Germany – April 16, 1855, Ternopil, Ukraine) was an Austrian portrait painter and miniaturist. He was the father of the singer Wilhelmina Skibinska. K. Schweikart's body of work features a broad social spectrum of residents of Lviv, including portraits of the ancient Polish nobility, numerous Austrian military figures, townspeople, and the bourgeoisie. Among his works is the portrait of Franz Xaver Mozart. Schweikart turned to painting early, studying in Stuttgart and Strasbourg from 1787 to 1792. He continued his studies at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1795. In 1800, the artist went to Prague. In 1807, he travelled to Moscow, Hungary, and Bukovina. From 1802 to 1846, he lived and worked in Lviv. Karl Schweikart married, had a studio, and taught painting lessons here. Between 1810 and 1830, the artist was one of Galicia's most renowned portrait painters. Among his students were Antoni Laub and Korneli Szlegel. In 1846, the artist moved to Sambir, and in 1853, he relocated to Ternopil. It is known that Schweikart kept an accurate record of his works, describing them in a special book, which is now considered lost. According to these records, he created 2,000 portraits. His works are held in the collections of the National Museums in Krakow, Warsaw, and Lviv.

Object description

Almost filling the height of the vertical composition against a neutral olive background, there is a half-length portrait of a middle-aged man, depicted in a slight turn to the right, looking at the viewer. The man is dressed in a black frock coat and a white shirt with a stand-up collar. A white lace jabot and a white bow tie tied around the neck are visible beneath the collar. The round, full face with prominent features is framed by wide sideburns. The dark hair is styled forward by the fashion of the time. The gaze of his brown eyes is serious and confident. The man is a knight of the Order of Leopold II, as indicated by the cross with a crown attached to the left lapel of his frock coat on a wide gold chain. The painting is likely a pair to the "Female Portrait" (Ж-4779). The form of paired family portraits is characteristic of the Biedermeier style and is expected in the works by K. Schweikart.

Inscriptions

In the lower right, there is an indecipherable artist's signature and date: "1821".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Male Portrait

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