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308 Marsha Morton ity instead of solely by monetary greed. While a laudable sentiment, he also maintained that financial acquisitiveness induced an undesirable “Unzufriedenheit und Missbe- hagen” in the working- and middle-classes, which could be assuaged by learning and practicing the skills of Hausindustrie craftsmanship.62 Viewed from this perspective, a darker interpretation emerges of Markt in Cairo as an image that would not have been unwelcome to Eitelberger : a scene of poor but hardworking peasants who were passively contented with their lot. Like most of the untroubled Biedermeier genre scenes that he admired, Markt in Cairo, despite evident poverty, shows little signs of the political and economic tensions roiling Egypt. Negotiating an Academy Appointment The relationship between Müller and Eitelberger became more fractious during the fol- lowing years due to Müller’s insistence about painting on site, which proved problematic to the picture’s completion, and to his willingness to become a professor at the Academy. To Eitelberger’s great disappointment, the canvas was not ready for the 1876 or 1877 Acad- emy exhibitions, and he could not understand why Müller was unable to finish it in Venice, where he resided from May 1876 until October 1877.63 Müller, who struggled with the composition and referred to it as his “bête noire”, increasingly reached the conclusion that authenticity and inspiration could only be achieved by working in Egypt. In January 1878, when the painting was finally nearing completion, he wrote to Laufberger from Cairo : All’ das Auswendiggemalte an dem Bilde, die Resultate meiner Arbeit in Venedig mußte ich dem Messer opfern. Unglaublich falsches Zeugs habe ich mit der Erinnerung darauf gemalt. […] Vier, von den Hauptfiguren habe ich direct aufs Bild gemalt nach der Natur. Ich, und mein Modell, beide saßen wir im vollen Sonnenlichte.64 The intense light in subsequent paintings such as Zuckerrohrmarkt and Volksschule in Oberägypten (1881), as well as dozens of portraits, confirm his unwavering commitment to painting out of doors. 62 R. Eitelberger von Edelberg, Zur Frage der Hausindustrie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung österreichischer Verhältnisse [1884], in : idem, Die Aufgaben des Zeichenunterrichtes und vier kunst historische Aufsätze (Gesammelte kunsthistorische Schriften von Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg, vol.  3), pp.  173–188, esp. p.  188. 63 Eitelberger to Müller, 29  June 1877, in : Zemen (ed.), Leopold Carl Müller (cit. n.  2), pp.  309 f. 64 Müller to Laufberger, 22  January 1878, ibid., p.  354. Open Access © 2019 by BÖHLAU VERLAG GMBH & CO.KG, WIEN