Description
Oil, canvas; 28 x 42.5 cm Signed p.d.: F. Roubaud
Asking price 28300
Estimate 40000 - 45000
Franz ROUBAUD
1856 Odessa -1928 Munich
Son of French emigrants settled in Odessa. From 1877-1878 he studied in Munich - initially at the Academy, under K. Piloty, O. Seitz and W. Diez. In 1878-80 he studied antiquity and painting technology. In 1881 he decided to visit the country of his ancestors and went to Paris and the south of France. At the end of the year he returned to Munich, where he became associated with the community of Polish artists gathered around Jozef Brandt and was educated at his private school. It was the personalities of Brandt and Wierusz- Kowalski that had the greatest influence on his work. Fascinated by the Caucasus, in 1883-84 he visited Yerevan, Tiflis, Baku, Bukhara, Tashkent, painting scenes from the lives of the people there. He developed his own individual style, to which he remained faithful until the end of his life. In 1885, he received a commission from St. Petersburg. The work was crowned by a panorama of the Conquest of the mountain fortress of Akhulgho in the Caucasus, purchased by Czar Alexander III. Its success aroused the interest of Prince Luitpold in Munich, which resulted in further commissions and the strengthening of the artist's position. Czar Nicholas II commissioned from him a panorama of the defense of Sevastopol. Roubaud received the title of full professor for it and in 1903 was appointed director of the Department of Battle Painting at the St. Petersburg Academy. In 1911 he returned to Munich, where he lived for the rest of his life constantly maintaining contacts with St. Petersburg.
