Page - 300 - in Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg - Netzwerker der Kunstwelt

300 Marsha Morton a pattern over the next few years with Müller sending Eitelberger reports and opinions about events in North Africa, especially concerning the deteriorating situation in Egypt that led to the British takeover in 1882, which Eitelberger found “außerordentlich inter- essant”.28 By the end of March, Eitelberger admitted that all efforts to secure Lagernde Be- duinen for the Österreichische Galerie had failed, advising him somewhat bitterly to sell the picture in London or Paris : “Ich glaube auch, dass man an diesen Orten ein grösseres Verständnis für jene Kunstrichtungen hat, welche die Schilderung der Völker von Künstlerhand zum Gegenstand haben.”29 Beginning in 1877, Müller would indeed be represented by the British dealer Henry Wallis at the French Gallery, where he would eventually earn considerable wealth. Eitelberger seems to have sincerely wanted to com- pensate Müller for the loss of income and asked him for a hint (“ein Fingerzeig”) of whether he would prefer a state subvention, the sale of an existing painting, or a new commission. This magnanimous proposition, however, backfired since Müller was in- censed about what he perceived to be an offer of charity rather than merited accom- plishment.30 The situation deteriorated further over the choice of subject as a condition for the commission of a new painting, with Müller furiously denouncing to Laufberger the state’s authority to dictate artistic content.31 Although Eitelberger generously asked Müller to choose “einen Gegenstand […], der Ihnen Freude macht”, he had his own agenda, urging Müller to consider a painting of Dalmatian folk life or at least a Vi- ennese scene.32 Laufberger reported that “Eitelberger sprach Langes und Breites über einen Auftrag, den er Dir verschaffen wolle, etwa ein Bild aus Dalmatien” and he con- tinued to pressure Müller in this direction for the next month.33 Eitelberger’s preoccupation with Dalmatia, while perplexing to Müller, obviously de- rived from his 1860 published survey of Dalmatian medieval artistic monuments, which would be re-issued and expanded in 1884. This had been preceded by an art-topograph- ical study of medieval Hungary in 1856. Presumably, Eitelberger believed that Müller, a painter of Hungarian peasants, would be a perfect candidate to provide companion scenes set in Dalmatia. (So too his expectation of an Austrian genre site was plausi- ble considering that Müller had contributed Viennese and Styrian [Ramsau] views for Waldheim’s Illustrirte Zeitung [for the latter see September  13, 1862].) Eitelberger’s focus 28 Eitelberger to Müller, 30  January 1878, ibid., p.  357. 29 Eitelberger to Müller, 24  March 1875, ibid., p.  195. 30 These comments are most forcibly expressed in Müller’s letter to Laufberger, 2  June 1875, ibid., p.  214. 31 Müller to Laufberger, 2  April 1875, ibid. pp.  198 f. 32 Eitelberger to Müller, 28  March 1875, ibid., p.  197. 33 Laufberger to Müller, 23  March 1875, ibid., p.  195. Open Access © 2019 by BÖHLAU VERLAG GMBH & CO.KG, WIEN