August Eisenmenger

From Wunderkind to Principal of the Academy

August Eisenmenger is not only one of the most well-known students of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and its principal for 2 years, he also creates the famous frescoes on the rear side of the academy building which are nearly completely destroyed when a bomb strikes during WW2.

Eisenmenger is only 15 years old when he is admitted to the academy in 1845. He remains only 3 years, forced to quit his training due to lack of funds. His situation does not improve until he is joins the atelier of Carl Rahl, a well-known artist of the time.

Eisenmenger benefits above all from Rahl’s friendship with Theophil Hansen, one of the most significant Ringstraße architects. Even after Rahl’s death in 1865, Hansen supplies him with commissions, for instance for the famous frescoes on the rear side of the Academy of Fine Arts.

And Eisenmenger not only establishes himself as a painter, he also climbs the academic ladder, becoming a professor at the academy in 1872, and principal from 1888 to 1890. Eisenmenger dies in Vienna in 1907.