BAHL, riil, KARL (1812-65). An Austrian historical and portrait painter, born in Vienna, son of the engraver Karl Heinrich Rahl (1779 1843). First instructed by his father, he entered the Vienna Academy in 1827, won a prize in 1831 with "David in the Cave of Adu went to Munich and Stuttgart, where he found a sympathetic adviser in Eberhard Wiiehter, and after his return to Vienna (1834) painted "Kriemhild Declaring Hagen Siegfried's derer" (1835. Vienna Museum). In 1836 he went to Venice where he copied Titian and thence proceeded to Rome, where he lived in congenial intercourse with Koch, Thorwaldsen, Riepen hausen. and Genelli and cultivated an eclecticism which borrowed color and technique from the Venetians and composition from Raphael and Michelangelo. From this Roman sojourn date "Hagen and Volker at Krieinhild's Door" (1836), "Confederation on the Mali, 1307," and "Charles of Anjou Finding Manfred's Body" (1838, Vienna Museum). He returned to Vienna in 1838. but by the end of 1839 was again in Rome, where he remained until 1847. The works executed in Rome during that period include a huge altar-pieee with thirty figures "Saint Joseph of Calasanza" (1841, Piarist Church, Vienna) ; "Persecution of Christians in the Catacombs of Rome" (1844. Kunsthalle, Hamburg; replica, 1849, National Gallery, Berlin) : and "Entry of Manfred into Lucera" (1846. Vienna Museum), besides several genre scenes and various por traits. The year 1848 found him as corrector at the Vienna Academy, which was, however, closed during the revolutionary disturbances, when Rah! took up his abode in Munich, until ap pointed to a temporary professorship at the Vienna Academy, in 1850. He resigned after one
term and opened a private school of painting, which was at once attended by twenty-five of his pupils and many more thereafter. For years underrated and slighted by those in authority, he won at last deserved recognition in 1856 through the patronage of Baron Sina, the Greek banker, who secured his services for the decora tion of the Greek church in Vienna. the composi tion of a grand frieze, representing the "Develop ment of the Sciences in Greece" (1860) for the University of Athens, and whose palace in Vienna he adorned in 1861 with four superb easel paint ings of "Episodes from the heroic Age of Greece" and the "Four Elements." The facade of the Heinrichshof he decorated in 1S62 with twelve allegorical figures of "The Arts of Peace." and the staircase of the Arsenal in 1863 with the allegories of "War and Strategy," "Fame and Honor," "Courage and Wisdom," and "Unity and Power." having shortly before been appointed professor at the academy. Among more than 400 portraits which he is said to have painted are those of many contemporary celebrities in art. literature, and science. Many admirable de signs for future decorative work remained unfin ished at his death. Consult: Hottner. Karl Rahl (Vienna, 1863) ; George-Mayer, Erinnerungoi an Karl Bahl (ib.. 1882) : Reber, Geschichte der nencren deutsche,' Kunst, ii. (Leipzig, 1S84) ; Bodenstein, in Allgemeine deutsebe Biographte, xxvii. 1888) ; and Pecht, Deutsche ler des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, iv. (Nord lingen, 1885).