Franz ROHRBECK - The Indian Palace

Franz ROHRBECK
Torgau (Germany), 1852 – Milwaukee (Wisconsin), 1919
The Indian Palace
Watercolor and white gouache highlights
29 x 41 cm (45.5 x 57 cm with the frame)
Signed lower left "F. Rohrbeck"
Beautiful gilded wood frame
Very good condition

Franz Rohrbeck is a painter of German origin who was part of a group of artists who came to work in the United States in the 1880s. He became a decorative painter after working as a panoramic painter in San Francisco. Rohrbeck was a member of the Society of Milwaukee Artists. He painted murals in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan. He also executed several large paintings depicting episodes from the life of Christopher Columbus. He is probably best known for his large mural entitled "The Spirit and Strength of Wisconsin" at the Wisconsin State Capitol.
Franz Edward Rohrbeck first studied at the Berlin Academy of Arts and specialized in portraits. In 1885 he crossed the Atlantic to Milwaukee with August Lohr of Munich, Friedrich Wilhelm Heine and Berhard Schneider of Dresden and Hermann von Michalowski of Berlin like Rohrbeck. They came to paint for the American Panorama Company of the German-born Chicago businessman William Wehner. The company created immense paintings on historical and religious themes that traveled across America.
For example, Rohrbeck participated in the creation of the panorama "The Battle of Atlanta" of 1864. The panoramic painting (or "cyclorama") was a work of very large dimensions in which nearly twenty artists could participate.
In 1898 Rohrbeck and other panoramic artists went to San Francisco to paint "The Battle of Manila".
Rohrbeck notably painted the Confederate troops in the battle scenes.
Our watercolor represents an Indian palace in Northern India with a Mughal style of Muslim influence, with the high mountains that can be seen in the background. Different characters animate the composition, including a servant with a panther, a man on a terrace under a parasol and a couple talking in the shade of a large tree. Moreover, the main character of the composition may be this tree, impressive in its size and shape, and very decorative, perhaps as much as the palace itself. It is a magnificent Banyan, or Indian fig tree, the national tree of India.
This work is probably a study for a panoramic set, a project, a preparatory work for a panorama on the theme of India (with the characteristic elements of India: the palace, the Indian costumes, the banyan tree and the Himalayas). Or is it a project for a set for a play set in India.

Ref: 9DO3EWD09N