BIOGRAPHY
ANTONIETTA BRANDEIS
(1849 – 1910)
Little is written about Antonietta Brandeis. We do know that she was born in Miskowitz, Austria in 1849 and was brimming with artistic talent. She studied in Prague with Karel Javurek and then went on to become a student at the Academy in Venice.
An Austrian studying art in Venice was a familiar sight after the republic was ceded to the Hapsburgs by Napoleon’s army in 1815. Venice was occupied for the next twenty years and her ateliers nurtured the talents of other well-known Austrian painters like Eugene de Blaas and F.R.Unterberger.
By the mid-19th century international travel was a popular pastime for the leisure class in Europe. Visitors flocked to the picturesque canals and cathedrals of Venice and sought souvenirs of what they’d experienced. “Correspondence cards” or “Open Post Sheets” had not yet become popular. The first “postcards” were in circulation in Vienna in 1869.
The travel memories of any tourist would be quickly and happily recalled through the paintings of Antonietta Brandeis. Her fondness for her subject is evident with every painted reflection in a canal or bright blue sky. Brandeis also painted in Rome and Florence.