Emil Jakob Schindler

Emil Jakob Schindler (27 April 1842 – 9 August 1892) was an Austrian landscape painter. His eldest daughter was the author and composer Alma Mahler. He found his inspiration, however, in the Dutch Masters such as Meindert Hobbema and Jacob Izaaksoon van Ruisdael. In 1873, he travelled to Venice and Dalmatia; a trip sponsored by the industrialist Friedrich Franz von Leitenberger (1837–1899). Later, he visited France and Holland. She led a less fortunate life and, in 1942, died at a mental hospital in Großschweidnitz, murdered by the Nazis.

Infidelity allegations Shortly after Alma's birth, Anna was suspected of having an affair with the painter, Julius Victor Berger. Two years after Grete's birth, she was accused of carrying on another affair with Carl Moll, one of her husband's students. Schindler kept a diary in those years which is preserved in part by the Austrian National Library. Extracts were also published in a book by Moll (Emil Jakob Schindler, Vienna 1930). In an entry of 15 October 1879, 1½ months after Alma's birth, Schindler complained that his joy at the birth was tempered by "separation" from his wife. This was apparently resolved but, in an unpublished manuscript by Alma, Der schimmernde Weg (The Shimmering Road) she claims that Berger was Grete's real father. However, the facts in the case are confusing, and no conclusion has been reached.

Many explanations have been proposed as to why she never had any more children with Schindler because, after his death, she married Moll and gave birth to another daughter (Maria) at the age of 42.

Later life and successes In 1881, he was awarded the which came with a cash award of 1,500 florins, enabling the family to rent a large new apartment that was previously occupied by Passy-Cornet, who had moved to Budapest. Winning the prize also served to attract more clients and their financial condition continued to improve. From 1885 onwards, he rented the Castle Plankenberg, near Neulengbach, which he had left untreated for too long while on vacation. However, his death certificate, as published in the Wiener Zeitung (17 August 1892, p. 10), gives the cause as paralytic ileus.

According to contemporary newspaper reports, Schindler died at 2 p.m. on August 9, 1892, only five days after his arrival to Sylt, in great pain but fully conscious. At his deathbed he was surrounded by his wife, his two daughters, Carl Moll and a vicar. The reports thus also clearly contradicts Alma Mahler's much-cited recollections on her father's death. According to his own wishes Schindler was buried next to his mother on 14 August in the churchyard of Ober St. Veit (Hietzing).

An auction of his paintings at the beginning of December 1892, arranged by Carl Moll and the art dealer, Hugo Othmar Miethke (1834–1911), produced a net profit of ca. 80,000 florins (Gulden).

On October 1, 1895, Schindler's remains were exhumed and transferred to the Zentralfriedhof, where the City of Vienna had dedicated an honorary grave ("Ehrengrab") to him, with a new tombstone with his bust made by his friend, Edmund Hellmer, who also made the statue for the Stadtpark, unveiled on October 14, 1895. The original tombstone by Hellmer was probably destroyed by bombs in 1945 and later replaced by a plain headstone that only bears Schindler's names, but not his life dates.

In 1894, a street in the Währing District had been named after him. In 1912, Moll, who was now director of the Galerie Miethke in Vienna, held their first solo exhibition of Schindler's paintings, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death.

Selected paintings