Julius Victor Berger

Julius Victor Berger (20 July 1850, Neutitschein, Mähren — 17 November 1902, Vienna) was an Austrian painter who is known primarily for his genre paintings and portraits.

Julius Victor Berger, Lithograph by Adolf Dauthage, c. 1880

Life

Julius Berger's was the son of Ignaz Johann Berger, who was also a painter. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna at the young age of 14. In 1874 he was granted a three-year scholarship to study art in Rome.

Upon returning to Vienna he briefly shared an apartment with fellow painter Emil Jakob Schindler and his wife Anna Sofie. While Schindler was traveling Berger began an affair with Anna. He was almost certainly the father of Margarethe Julie Schindler (b. 16 August 1880), who was the half sister of Alma Maria Schindler.

Berger became a professor of decorative painting at the Wiener Kunstgewerbeschule in 1881, and in 1887 a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts. Among his friends was the history painter Hans Makart.

Grave of Julius Victor Berger

Berger's most recognized work is the ceiling painting in Hall XIX of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. He is interred in the Zentralfriedhof, also in Vienna (Group 14A, Number 8).

References

• Julius Victor Berger. In: Ulrich Thieme, Felix Becker et al.: Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Vol 3, Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1909, p. 397f
• "Berger Julius Viktor von". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 1, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1957, p. 72.