Peter Strudel a brilliant Austrian master of painting and the creator of the first academy of arts in Central Europe

Peter Strudel a famous Austrian painter and sculptor of the late 17th early 18th centuries, a prominent representative of the Baroque style in European fine art. Strudel became famous for painting religious paintings and creating statues of the rulers of Austria from the Habsburg family. Most of the master’s masterpieces are in museums and churches in Vienna.

Peter Strudel is also rightfully considered the creator of the oldest art academy in Central Europe. He founded a private school to train young artists at his own expense. And until the end of his life he led this prestigious institution.

Biography

Peter Strudel was born in 1660 in the small town of Kles. Peter’s first teacher was his father, who owned a small workshop for making statues and decor for buildings. And the young man was taught the basics of painting by the Italian artist Giovanni Carlo Lotto, who moved to South Tyrol from Venice.

Peter Strudel turned out to be a gifted student and already in the early 1680s he received an invitation from Elector Johann Wilhelm of the Palatinate to take the position of court painter in Heidelberg. However, he did not stay in this city for a long time, because in 1685 he was called to Vienna by his brother Paul, who by that time was already in the service of Emperor Leopold I. Unlike his closest relative, Peter specialized in painting. By order of the monarch and the highest Viennese nobility, he created paintings with images of saints. And also he was engaged in the manufacture of altars for the temples of the Austrian capital. Nevertheless, the artist periodically worked with his brother, helping him to embody statues of the rulers of the Habsburg family in marble to decorate the interior of castles.

In 1690, Peter Strudel bought a large plot of land in the suburbs of Vienna, not far from one of the emperor’s palaces, and built a spacious mansion here. And two years later, he allocated several rooms for the training of young artists, founding a private school in the likeness of the Italian academies of St. Luke. Leopold I supported the undertaking of his protégé, annually allocating a substantial amount of money from the imperial treasury for the maintenance of the institution. But after the death of Strudel, the academy closed. And only in 1726, thanks to the efforts of Jacob van Schuppen, its activities resumed.

He was married to Elisabetta Catriohan, in marriage he had two sons.

But only one of his sons, named Johann, survived. In 1701, Leopold I granted the artist the hereditary title of baron, and four years later, the private school founded by Strudel was officially transformed into the Imperial Academy of Arts. At the same time, its founder became the first director of the institution and held a prestigious position until his death.

Peter Strudel died on October 4, 1714 at the age of 54, leaving his only son a huge fortune and a luxurious baroque mansion. Not a single portrait of the master has survived to this day. But the museums contain more than 200 paintings and several dozen of his sculptural works.