Anton Romako

Anton Romako was an Austrian painter.

Anton Romako was born in Atzgersdorf (now a district of Liesing, Vienna), as an illegitimate son of factory owner Josef Lepper and his Czech housemaid Elisabeth Maria Anna Romako (Rhomako, Romakho, née Hromádko). He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (1847-49), but his teacher, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, considered him talentless. Later, he studied in Munich (1849) under Wilhelm Kaulbach, and subsequently in Venice, Rome and London. In the early 1850s, he studied privately in Vienna under Carl Rahl, whose style Romako adopted. In 1854 he began travels to Italy and Spain, and in 1857 settled in Rome as the favourite portrait, genre, and landscape painter for the local colony of foreigners.

In 1862 Romako married Sophie Köbel, the daughter of architect Karl Köbel, and the pair had five children before Sophie left Romako in 1875 for her lover. In 1876 Romako returned to Vienna but failed to re-establish himself against the style represented by Hans Makart and increasingly relied on the charity of such wealthy patrons as Count Kuefstein. He made study trips to Hungary, Italy and France, and during the years 1882 to 1884 he alternated between Paris and Geneva. Two daughters, Mathilde and Mary, committed suicide in 1887; Romako never recovered from the shock. His last years were spent living in neglect near Vienna, where he died in poverty in 1889. Romako was buried at the Central cemetery in Vienna.

Dr. Oskar Reichel was essential in promoting Romako after his death, particularly with his 1913 show of collected works from his private collection. Reichel framed Romako as the "father" of a later artist, Oskar Kokoschka, stating that "the path from Romako leads to Kokoschka, the visionary amongst the young Viennese" in the show's introduction. Reichel also created the ongoing perception of Romako as an artist who connected the late-18th-century French school and the early-19th-century Viennese school by displaying his works between art from these two schools at the 1913 show.

Several paintings by Romako are confirmed or suspected of being stolen from their Jewish owners in Nazi Germany, as they were purchased by art dealer Wolfgang Gurlitt, who bought several paintings from Jewish owners during this time period, and claimed to have lost his provenance records from 1933 to 1945. Paintings by Romako sold to Gurlitt include Ruine Liechtenstein, Don Quichotte, Barcarole, Herbst und Winter, Italiensche Landschaft mit Baurenhaus, The Spring, Nike With Wreath, and Nude of a Young Girl.

In 1953 a street in Atzgersdorf was named after the painter: Romakogasse. Anton Romako's painting The Battle of Lissa was selected as a motive for a recent commemorative coin: the 20 euro S.M.S. Erzherzog Ferdinand Max minted on September 15, 2004.

His brother, Josef von Romako, was a Naval Architect-Inspector of Austro-Hungarian Navy.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023