Makart, Hans (1840-1884)

Son of a chamberlain at Mirabell castle. After a short study at the Academy in Vienna he was educated by Karl Theodor von Piloty in Munich (1860-1865) and travelled to London, Paris and Rome to study. In 1868 or 1869 he married Amalie Franziska Roithmayr from Munich. They had two children, Hans und Grete. Sadly Amalie died young in 1873.

He returned to Vienna in 1869 after the prince Von Hohenlohe provided him with an old foundy at the Gusshausstrasse 25 to use as a studio. He gradually turned it into an impressive place full of sculptures, flowers, musical instruments, requisites and jewellery that he used to create classical settings for his portraits, mainly of women. Eventually his studio looked like a salon and became a social meeting point in Vienna. Cosima Wagner described it as a 'wonder of decoritive beauty, a sublime lumber-room'.

Makart became famous for his richly coloured history paintings and enjoyed his finest hour in 1879 with his painting of the procession in honour of the silver anniversary of the marriage of emperor Francis Joseph and his wife Elisabeth (better known as Sisi). In the same year he became a Professor at the Academy. In 1881 he married his second wife, the dancer Bertha Babitsch (also known as Bertha Linda, 3 Jan 1850-20 Aug 1928). This marriage wasn't accepted by the Viennese society.

Makart also designed furniture and interiors. In 1882 emperor Francis Joseph orderded to build the Villa Hermes at Lainz (near Vienna) for his empress and the bedroom decoration should be inspired on Shakespeare's Midsummernight's Dream. Makart designed a fascinating dreamworld that still exists at the Villa Hermes as a large painting (1882). Unfortunately his design was never executed after his early death in 1884. To secure the future of his young children his collection of antics and art was put up for auction by art-dealer H.O. Miethke. It consisted of 1083 pieces.

Work: "Charlotte Wolter as Messalina" (1875, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna); "Dora Fournier" (c.1878-1879, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna).

Related persons
• was pupil to Piloty, Karl Theodor von
• was a friend of Schindler, Emil Jakob
• knew Wagner, Richard
• was a friend of Wolter, Charlotte
• painted Wolter, Charlotte
• painted Würzburg, Zerline

Sources
• Zentralfriedhof Wien, Wien, 1995
• Budig, Robert S. et al, Ehrengräber am Wiener Zentralfriedhof, Compress Verlag Wien, Wien
• Becker, Edwin & Sabine Grabner (eds.), Wenen 1900, Portret en interieur, Van Goghmuseum, Amsterdam, 1997

Images
The grave of Hans Makart at the Zentralfriedhof, Vienna. Picture by Androom (25 Jan 1999)	The statue of Makart at the Stadtpark, Vienna. Picture by Androom (31 Aug 2002)	'Bildnis seiner erste Frau Amalie'. (Salzburg: Residenzgalerie)
'Charlotte Wolter as Messalina'. (1875, Wien: Wien Museum)	'Dora Fournier-Gabillon'. (c1879-1880, Wien: Wien Museum)