Antique Dog Painting
"Mops," Portrait of a Seated Pug
Norbert Schrödl (Vienna, 1842-1912) 
Oil on canvas, lined, signed and dated lower left Norbert Schrödl 1870 
Stamped on the back: "Nachlass N Schrödl / FKV 1912", 47 x 34 cm." 
18 1/2 x 13 3/8 inches; frame size
Provenance: West German nobility
 
Norbert Schrödl was the portraitist to Kaiser Willhelm l (1797-1888) of Germany and his wife the Emperoress Augusta (1811-1890) as well as many of the German nobility and aristocracy. 
 
Norbert Schrödl came from a family of successful artists. He was the son of the renowned sculptor and ivory carver Norbert Michael Schrödl, the painter and lithographer Anton Schrödl was his uncle; the sculptor Leopold Schrödl his brother. Together with his family, Schrödl traveled across Europe through Dresden, Warsaw, Moscow, Cologne, etc., as his father worked.
  
By the age of ten, Schrödl was receiving expert artistic instruction from the court painter Michael von Zichy in Saint Petersburg. And as early as 1854 Schrödl was in Paris and attending various courses at the École des Beaux-Arts When his family settled in Frankfurt. The following year, Schrödl became a student of the notable animalier and genre painter Jakob Becker. 
 
Between 1863 and 1868 Schrödl lived and worked in Paris and very soon he caught the eye of the art patron Duke Charles Tascher de la Pagerie. Through his advocacy, Schrödl soon received many lucrative orders. In the summer of 1868 Schrödl settled in Berlin after having studied masterpieces in Belgium and the Netherlands. There he remained living and working as a sought-after portraitist to the aristocracy until 1874.
 
The political upheavals of 1870-71 had a positive effect on the artist due to the reestablishment of the German Empire, the expansion of Berlin into the capital and the concordant beginning of the "Gründerzeit" (an era of great economic expansion from the 1840s, fueled by the age of industrialization up until the market crash of 1873). This was a period of the creation of great wealth which in turn led to many lucrative portrait commissions. In 1874-76 he undertook an extensive journey to Italy as a creative break. Upon his return, Schrödl was overwhelmed with commissions.
 
Beginning in 1880 Schrödl alternated his time between Frankfurt and Kronberg im Taunus; the mountain range located north of Frankfurt. Finding inspiration in the local artistic community, Schrödl eventually settled Kronberg turning his attention to nature and animal studies.
 
In 1882 Kaiser Wilhelm I commissioned him to paint a portrait of his wife Augusta. Since this commission was deemed satisfactory, K. Wilhelm ordered a portrait of himself and wife Augusta. Due to the close friendship with their daughter-in-law Princess Victoria, Schrödl received many portrait orders from the European nobility. 
After the Kaiser’s death in 1888, Empress Augusta moved into her widow's residence at Friedrichshof. She then asked Schrödl to give her painting lessons. He was her reliable teacher and critic until her death in 1901.
 
Norbert Schrödl died at the age of almost 70 on February 26, 1912 in Kronberg im Taunus. His grave is in the main cemetery in Frankfurt
 
There are numerous portraits by Norbert Schrödl in private ownership of the German high nobility. His paintings may also be found in many public institutions such as Cliffe Castle Museum Keighly, England; National Museum of Warsaw; Städel Museum, Frankfurt, Germany as well as others.