3789 - Josef Kriehuber, "Eduard Graf von Woyna"

Josef Kriehuber, "Eduard Graf von Woyna" nearly full-length portrait of Privy Councillor Eduard Graf von Woyna (1795 Vienna - 1850 Brussels) in a magnificent dress uniform, his gaze directed towards the viewer; a finely nuanced chalk lithograph, signed and dated ‘Kriehuber (1)844’ in the stone at the bottom right, minor imperfections, mounted behind facetted glass in an elaborately openwork frame, inner dimensions approx. 34.5 x 28.5 cm. Artist’s biography: prominent Austrian portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman and lithographer (1800, Josefstadt/Vienna - 1876, Vienna); received early artistic encouragement; from 1813, an apprenticeship as a watchmaker; in 1814 turned to art and studied at the Vienna Academy until 1818; from 1818, accompanied Prince Sanguszko to Poland as a drawing teacher; returned to Vienna in 1821; 1823-24: resumed his studies at the Vienna Academy; to finance his studies, he became one of the most capable lithographers at the J. Trentsensky publishing house, initially creating depictions of horses, military scenes and genre scenes, in 1825 he turned to portraiture, a genre in which he achieved outstanding mastery, as a result, he became the most sought-after and highest-paid Viennese portraitist for the high nobility (including Archduke Franz Carl of Austria in 1827) and prominent figures such as musicians (Beethoven), painters, writers, etc.; he undertook study trips to Upper Austria, Styria, Tyrol, Northern Italy and Switzerland; from 1864, he was a member of the Vienna Cooperative of Fine Artists; from 1866 a member of the Vienna Academy of Arts; later, due to competition from photography, he became an art teacher at the Theresianum in Vienna; his works are held in the graphic collections of the Albertina and the National Library of Vienna; source: Thieme-Becker and the internet.