Woldemar Hau

Woldemar Hau (; – ) was a Baltic German painter, active in St. Petersburg during Tsar Nicholas I's reign. The younger half-brother to fellow artisan Eduard Hau, he was best known for his watercolor portraits of the Russian imperial family and nobility, typical of the Biedermeier style.

Life and work He was the son of painter Johannes Hau, who had emigrated from Northern Germany in 1795, and he grew up in the German community of Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia). His half-brother was the painter Eduard Hau. In addition to his father, he studied with the former court painter Karl von Kügelgen.

At the age of 16, he was offered an opportunity to paint the grand duchesses and received a letter of recommendation to Alexander Sauerweid, a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts. From 1833 to 1835, he was a "guest student" at the Academy. He also produced 200 miniature portraits of veterans of the Izmaylovsky Regiment. He died on 23 March 1895 in Saint Petersburg.

Selected portraits