CROATIAN FINE ART, Hugo Conrad von Hötzendorf

Hugo Conrad von Hötzendorf, Landscape, 1867 (oil on canvas, 70 cm x 99 cm), Modern Gallery, Zagreb (Inventory No.: MG-2141) Hugo Conrad von Hötzendorf (?, around 1807 – Osijek, 1869), painter and pedagogist, one of the most significant 19th-century painters from Osijek. He learned how to paint alongside his father, who was a teacher at a drawing school in Osijek. Between 1836 and 1838, he received private education in Vienna. After his father’s death in 1841, he took over his position at the drawing school. He was an extremely talented pedagogist and numerous painters from Osijek received their first lessons from him. Among those painters was the young Izidor Kršnjavi, who later stated that he had never had a better teacher than Hötzendorf. A few years before his death, he also established a private painting school in Osijek. Hötzendorf's artistic style was similar to that of Romantic painters from Vienna. His earlier works were predominantly realistic, while his later works were more of an idealistic and romantic interpretation of nature. His paintings included landscapes, pastoral scenes, genre painting of hunting scenery, portrayals of peasants in traditional clothing and old town ruins. Besides oil painting, he also painted in watercolour and was very talented in drawing, which is particularly evident from his numerous drawings of ruins in Slavonia. He often travelled through Slavonia, Srijem, Carinthia and Gorski Kotar, seeking motifs for his paintings. Due to his extraordinary sense for the effects of light and his attention to detail, his works represent one of the most significant landscape art collections in Croatian 19th-century painting. The oil painting Landscape (1867) is representative of Hötzendorf’s later work. This painting represents all his painting talents: a skilful composition, a romantic attitude towards ruins of architectural monuments, a detailed landscape (from undergrowth in the forefront to the monumental tree in the centre of the composition and a refined use of light. All these elements create a qualitative distinction between Hötzendorf and other Croatian painters of his time.