Rudolf von Arthaber and His Children Rudolf, Emilie and Gustav

Around 1832 Rudolf von Arthaber's textile business in Vienna employed some 8,000 workers, and its patterned Viennese shawls sold all over Europe. In 1837 he had Friedrich von Amerling paint him as a father among his three children, on a canvas more than two metres tall. The elegant salon looks lived in, yet the Belvedere points out that the whole scene was composed in the painter's studio. One person is missing from it. The children's mother had died in 1833, and a small picture said to show her links the family in her memory. The two boys bend together over a small closed case, and their sister in a wide straw hat holds up a doll. Arthaber sits beside them, one arm on the table. A racket and a second straw hat lie on the floor at the front.