Rudolf Swoboda the Elder

He is generally referred to as The Elder to distinguish him from his nephew, Rudolf, who was also an artist.

He began his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, under Joseph Mössmer, and studied landscape painting with Johann Baptist Dallinger von Dalling (1782–1868).

After graduating, he made study trips to Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Together with Franz Steinfeld and Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, he founded the "Österreichischen Kunstvereins" in 1848.

In the late 1850s, his health, which had been poor since his childhood, worsened and began to hinder his work.