Josef Danhauser
Josef Franz Danhauser was a painter from the Austrian Empire. He was one of the prominent artists of Biedermeier period, along with Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Peter Fendi, and others. Danhauser's works, which went largely unappreciated in his time, dealt with moralising subjects and had a clear influence of William Hogarth.
Danhauser was born in Vienna in 1805, the eldest son of sculptor and furniture manufacturer Joseph Ulrich Danhauser and his wife Johanna. He took his first painting lessons with his father and later assisted the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. He studied with Johann Peter Krafft and made his first exhibition in 1826.
Invited by Johann Ladislaus Pyrker, patriarch of Venice, Danhauser visited Doges, where he started to study the Italian masters. He returned to Vienna via Trieste in 1827, visiting Prague. On 27 March 1827, he and his colleague :de:Johann Matthias Ranftl molded Ludwig van Beethoven's death mask, roughly 12 hours after his death and Danhauser painted a water-colour representing his deathbed. In 1828, he spent some time in Eger, with an invitation of this Hungarian city archbishop Pyrker. He solicited him for some pictures for the gallery of the Archdiocese.
Career
After his father's death in 1829, his brothers and he managed his furniture factory during the Biedermeier movement, being the precursors of modern design. That made him put his painting career aside.
In 1833, Danhauser responded to a second invitation from Eger's archbishop, and he painted The martyr of Saint John for a new basilica in the city, and he received the Vienna Academy prize for his picture Die Verstoßung der Hagar, and he specialised in Genre works. In 1838, he was appointed vice-rector of the Academy and married Josephine Streit, who was the daughter of a physician and with whom he had three children, Josef, Marie and Julie, born in 1839, 1841 and 1843 respectively.
Danhauser was appointed professor of historical painting at the academy in 1841, but left to travel around Germany and the Netherlands with the textile maker, art aficionado, and art sponsor Rudolf von Arthaber. In this journey, he was very interested in the Dutch School and the format of his works was smaller. He died of typhus in Vienna in 1845 and was buried in Hundstrumer Cemetery, though his grave was later moved. In 1862, a street was named after him in Vienna.
Works
Rudolf von Habsburg und der Einsiedler in der Kapelle von Lilienfeld, oil on canvas, 0.727 x 0.588, Budapest, Szépművészeti MúzeumWallenstein ersticht sich im Zelte Ottokars - Szene aus Pyrkers Rudolphias, oil on canvas, 0.59 x 0.738, Budapest, Szépművészeti MúzeumOttokar erklärt Rudolf auf dem Turnierplatz mitten im Sturm den Krieg, oil on canvas, 0.603 x 0.741, Wien MuseumDas Scholarenzimmer eines Malers, oil on canvas, 0.40 x 0.52, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereKomische Szene in einem Maleratelier, oil on canvas, 0.365 x 0.495, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereBildnis eines Knaben, oil on canvas, 0.42 x 0.345, Wien MuseumPorträt Ladislaus Pyrkers, oil on paper, 0.32 x 0.26, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereMaleratelier mit Jeanne d'Arc, oil on canvas, 0.78 x 1.035, Budapest, Szépművészeti MúzeumSelbstporträt, oil on wood, 0.233 x 0.20, Wien MuseumDie Schlafenden, oil on canvas, 0.685 x 0.51, Budapest, Szépművészeti MúzeumOttokars Tod, oil on canvas, 1.035 x 0.845, Budapest, Szépművészeti MúzeumDer letzte Kampf zwischen Rudolf und Ottokar, oil on canvas, 0.585 x 0.695, Budapest, Szépművészeti MúzeumPorträt der Frau von Streit, der Schwiegermutter des Künstlers, oil on canvas, 0.92 x 0.715, Linz, Oberösterreichischen LandesmuseenAbraham verstößt Hagar, oil on canvas, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDas Bekenntnis, oil on canvas, 1.28 x 0.96, Wien MuseumDie Frau des Fischers mit ihrem Kinde, oil on wood, 0.41 x 0.49, private collection.Der reiche Prasser, oil on canvas, 0.855 x 1.33, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDer abgewiesene Freier, oil on wood, 0.63 x 0.486, Wien MuseumDie Frau des Fischers am Meeresufer, oil on wood, 0.395 x 0.485, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDer Augenarzt, oil on canvas, 0.94 x 1.25, Wien MuseumDie Klostersuppe, oil on wood, 0.855 x 1.30, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDas Lotterielos, oil on canvas, 0.885 x 0.71, Wien MuseumDie Testamentseröffnung, oil on wood, 0.95 x 1.19, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDer Pfennig der Witwe, oil on canvas, 0.97 x 1.27, Salzbourg, ResidenzgalerieDie Schachpartie, oil on canvas, 1,35 x 1,75, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDie Mutterliebe, oil on canvas, 0.507 x 0.42, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereWein, Weib und Gesang, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereFranz Liszt, am Flügel phantasierend, Berlin, Alte NationalgaleriePorträt des Klavierfabrikanten Konrad Graf, oil on wood, 0.82 x 0.63, Vienne, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDie Zeitungsleser, oil on wood, 0.21 x 0.17, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDie Frau vom Meer, oil on wood, 0.51 x 0.39 Der Astronom Karl Ludwig Edler von Littrow und Gattin Auguste geb. Bischoff, oil on paperboard, 0.50 x 0.38, Wien MuseumDie Hundekomödie, oil on canvas, 0.603 x 0.658, Wien MuseumDie Romanlektüre, oil on canvas, 0.63 x 0.788, Munich, Galerie GrünwaldMadame Lenormand weissagt der Kaiserin Josephine die Trennung von Napoleon, oil on wood, 0.74 x 0.83, lost pictureDas Kind und seine Welt, oil on wood, 0.226 x 0.29, Wien MuseumDie kleinen Virtuosen, oil on paperboard, 0.40 x 0.365, Vienna, Österreichische Galerie BelvedereDas A-B-C, oil on wood, 0.385 x 0.355, Wien MuseumDie Brautwerbung, oil on wood, 0.45 x 0.57, private collectionDer Gottscheer Junge, oil on wood, private collection Bildnis Franz von Schober, oil on wood, 0.16 x 0.13, Wien MuseumDie aufgehobene Zinspfändung, oil on wood, 0.90 x 1.08, Linz, Oberösterreichischen LandesmuseenDie Dorfpolitiker, oil on wood, 0.36 x 0.406, Vienna, City GalerieDas Stiegenweibchen, oil on wood, 0.42 x 0.335, Vienna, Galerie HassfurtheFranz Stelzhamer, oil on canvas, 0.74 x 0.60, Linz, Oberösterreichischen LandesmuseenFranz Danhauser, der Bruder des Künstlers, oil on paperboard, 0.343 x 0.272, Wien Museum