Rudolf Swoboda (23 January 1819, Vienna - 24 April 1859, Vienna) was an landscape and animal painter from the Austrian Empire. He is generally referred to as The Elder to distinguish him from his nephew, Rudolf, who was also an artist.
He was born into the family of a wool merchant. His older brother, Eduard, also became a painter. He began his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, under Joseph Mössmer, and studied landscape painting with Johann Baptist Dallinger von Dalling (1782–1868). After graduating, he made study trips to Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland.
In 1839, he began exhibiting on a regular basis, at the Academy. Later, he would have showings in Pest and Prague. In 1842, he received a large gold medal from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia.
Together with Franz Steinfeld and Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, he founded the "Österreichischen Kunstvereins" in 1848. That same year, he and Eduard became members of the Academy. In the mid-1850s, he was one of the co-founders of the Albrecht Dürer Association. The majority of his works combine landscapes and animals, with a preference for cattle.
In 1850, he married the actress, Josefine Schlögl (1824-1902), a sister of the writer, . In the late 1850s, his health, which had been poor since his childhood, worsened and began to hinder his work. He died, aged barely forty, in 1859.