Priest - Alois Heinrich Priechenfried (1867--1953)

Alois Heinrich Priechenfried 1867–1953

Austrian naturalist portrait painter and trained gilder

He began working alongside his father, Alois Michael Priechenfried, in the family gilding workshop in 1881, before studying as an auditor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (1884–1885) under Christian Griepenkerl.

After spending time in Munich, he settled permanently in Vienna, where he regained Austrian citizenship in 1896 and was appointed a member of the board of the Vienna Gilders' Cooperative in 1902

A Catholic artist, Priechenfried was particularly noted for his portraits of Jewish rabbis, works imbued with naturalism and refined sensitivity, often depicted reading or meditating.

Alongside these spiritual figures, he also produced genre scenes and portraits of cardinals and elegant ladies, always marked by a concern for realism and detail.