| August Theodor Schoefft | |
| Birth Date: | 1809 |
| Birth Place: | Pest, Hungary |
| Death Date: | 1888 |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Nationality: | Hungarian |
August Theodor Schoefft (1809 – 1888) was a 19th-century Hungarian painter.[1] [2] He spent more than one year in the Sikh Empire, arriving in 1841, where he painted portraits and scenes of the surrounding area. His best known works include The Court of Lahore and Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Darbar Sahib.[3] A painting by Scheofft sold at Christie's for over £91,250 in 2009.[4]
The son of a local portrait painter, Schoefft was raised in an artistic milieu in Pest, Hungary; an atmosphere which encouraged his inquisitive mind and taste for the observation.[5]
Interested in visually recording the exotic, Schoefft travelled from an early age, crossing several continents in his quest for foreign artistic inspiration. Engaging in Orientalism, Schoefft's paintings presented cultural imagery —sometimes accurately and other times salaciously— designed to engage European audiences with their far removed subject matter.[6] Schoefft financed his various international expeditions by securing commission for several prestigious portraits in the 1820s and 30s; most famously that of Hungarian politician and aristocrat Count István Széchenyi, entitled Istvan Szechenyi at the Iron Gate of the Danube, now housed in the Bakony Museum, Veszprém.[7] [8]
In 1835, the artist travelled to the Sikh Kingdom in India via Turkey; eventually reaching the Kingdom's capital of Lahore in November 1841 during the reign of Ranjit Singh (1780-1839), known as the 'Lion of the Punjab'.[9] During his one-year stay in Lahore as the guest of Dr. Martin Honigberger, the personal physician to the Sikh Royal Court and a fellow German speaker, he composed a series of sketches and notes on which he would rely for the development of much larger oil compositions upon his return to Europe.
M. Schoefft who has resided amongst us for some months and acquired considerable reputation as an artist is, we understand on the point of quitting Calcutta on a journey to Lahore. On his way thither, M. Schoefft propoes to halt at Moorshedabad, Monghyr, Patna, Dinapore, Benares, Allahabad, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Agra, Delhi, Meerut, Kurnaul etc. etc. and will, we believe be happy to be employed by the residents at the several stations in every way in which his talents can be made available. It should be stated that M. Schoefft is not merely a portrait painter. He has much skill in painting historical subjects, landscapes, costumes, etc. works with astonishing quickness and is, we thing more reasonable in his charge than any artist who has preceded him.During his time in Lahore, Schoefft expanded is oeuvre with various scenes and portait of prominent members of the Sikh Royal Court; most notably the monumental work Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Darbar Sahib which features over one-hundred portraits of courtiers.[11] The historic painting received critical acclaim when it was exhibited at the Vienna Salon in 1855.— Calcutta Courier, June 13, 1840[10]
Although many of Schoefft portraits of Sikh nobles have been lost, the artist fortunately made copies of a several for his own reference. Russian Prince Alexis Soltykoff, visiting Lahore in March 1842,[12] tells of finding Schoefft's paintings in the palace treasures:
Five or six portraits in oils without frames, the work of Schoeft, the German painter who has returned to British India. There was also a portrait of the King covered with jewels and holding in his hand a scimitar straight and very broad at the point and a portrait of the chief minister, Raja Dhian Singh, a good looking man, on horseback and wearing that suit of armour which I have already described. The King who admires the armour wished to be painted in it also.