General Viktor Dankl 1915

Three-quarter portrait of General Dankl (with round glasses and moustache), standing in a field gray uniform, with chako and blue coat hung over his shoulders. Behind them two officers standing in lateral three-quarter view. In the middle background marching troops of the ski department of the Landschützen (infantry troops). In the background steep wine terraces and wooded mountain slopes and view of Runkelstein Castle near Bolzano on steeply rising rock.

JQAW# P_1915_060
Oil on canvas 100 x 100 cm
Signature: John Quincy Ɑdams Bozen 4.XI.15.
Above signature: Tyrolean coat of arms on blue background. HGM Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Vienna Inv.# KBI152 Bez.#2731/2007

General Viktor Dankl (18.9.1854 Udine - 8.1.1941 Innsbruck), behind him Major General Kletus Pichle (Güns 6.4.1864 - 18.10.1928 Hall/Tyrol), on the right side Colonel General Alfred Freiherr von Waldstätten (9.9. 1872 Vienna - 12.1.1952 Steinbachtal b. Mauerbach).
General (since 1912) Dankl, a descendant of Andreas Hofer, since 1915 Landesverteitigungskomandant (provincial defense commander) Tyrol, 1916 promoted to Geraloberst. In the same year resigned for health reasons. In 1917 appointed baron (Dankl von Krasnik, commemorating his victory over the 4th Russian Army on the Eastern Front at Krasnik in 1914) and in 1918 count (the last ennoblement of the monarchy). S.his biography in the OeBL.

Dankl is depicted here in a careful composition full of Tyrolean symbols (coat of arms, Runkelstein Castle, famous for its secular medieval frescoes, skiing troops, vineyards) in the area of Bolzano with two of his officers. One of the most iconic Adams paintings from the First World War, often exhibited.

Cross-references

Photo of the creation of the image

Alfons Rothschild 1915 Bozen

Exhibited

1916: KuK Kriegspressequartier Exhibitions: Budapest (#1718), Berlin (#1717), Prague (#3).
1917: Künstlerhaus Vienna, No. 29 (EL 61 1916/17 #519).
1918: Kaiserjägerausstellung Innsbruck No. 83.
1934: Künstlerhaus Vienna No. 24 (EL 87 1934/35 #2053).
1961: HGM Vienna Exhibit. Karl Fahringer u. John Quincy Adams No.26.
1986: Akademie Schillerplatz Wien, Wiener Gesellschaft im Portrait, Catalog No. 31.

Literature

Bilder aus dem Ersten Weltkrieg, catalog, HGM Vienna, H Zatschek (ed.), text L Popelka, cat #26.

Schaffer/Eisenburger 1986, exhibition catalog #31 (no ill.).

APH, catalog raisonné JQA 1995, 1995, p. 139, cat #107, fig #78.

Provenance

War Press Quarters Vienna to k.u.k. Army Museum.
Museum of Army History HGM Vienna, Inv.No. KBI152 Bez.#2731/2007