Robert Russ (1847 - 1922)

In 1869 Robert, son of Franz Russ the Elder, received the gold medal of honour at the first international art exhibition in Munich, the first of many awards. He participated in the 1873 Viennese world exhibition with five paintings. From 1875, he received a series of interior decorating commissions for the new buildings along the Ringstraße. He submitted 95 landscape drawings for the monumental encyclopaedia (“Kronprinzenwerk”), The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Words and Pictures. He was inspired by Théodore Rousseau (1812–1867), a founder of the “School of Barbizon”, and by countless study trips. His main destinations were South Tyrol and Lake Garda. In his effort to find a distinctive style of his own, Russ arrived in the 1890s at a mise- en-scène with vivid colour and light effects, and after 1900 developed a free, sketch-like style, even allowing parts of the picture to fade out.

Author: Oehring Erika

Literature: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, S. 158