Úspěch evropské salonní malby na americké půdě : dva obrazy Kryštofa Kolumba
| Title in English | The Success of European Salon Painting in America : Two Depictions of Christopher Columbus |
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| Year of publication | 2026 |
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| Description | European salon painting became a focus of interest for North American collectors, particularly in the 1870s–1890s. Within the field of history painting, scenes from the life of Christopher Columbus were especially favored, with his cult reaching its peak in the jubilee year of 1892 and extending into the following year, when the World’s Columbian Exposition dedicated to him was held in Chicago. An example of a Central European with American experience is Hans Temple, a Viennese painter born in Moravia, who, as a delegate of the Künstlerhaus, contributed to the organization of the Austrian art section at the World’s Fair. Given the size of the space allocated to him in the Palace of Fine Arts, he did not have enough exhibits to display. He therefore turned to the Parisian art dealer of Viennese origin, Charles Sedelmeyer, who, with the assistance of his Chicago-based son-in-law Eugene Fischhof, helped him secure works by painters from Austria-Hungary connected with Paris and with his commercial interests. Among them were Eduard Charlemont with his painting Columbus and Václav Brožík with smaller genre works; the latter, however, was also represented by his popular large canvas Christopher Columbus at the Court of Spain in 1491, which at that time was on long-term display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York – albeit only indirectly, since the painting served as the model for one of the series of Columbus-themed stamps issued on the occasion of the exposition. At this point, the interests of the global art market (specifically those of Sedelmeyer and Fischhof) and the cultural representation of the Habsburg Monarchy appear to have intersected in a mutually beneficial symbiosis. |
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