Theodor Sockl

Theodor Sockl
Theodor Sockl portrait by his wife Clara (1853) Transylvanian Museum
Born	Theodor Benedikt Sockl (1815-04-15)15 April 1815 Vienna
Died	25 December 1861(1861-12-25) (aged 46) Vienna
Nationality	Austrian
Education	Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Known for	Painting
Movement	Biedermeier

Theodor Benedikt Sockl (15 April 1815 – 25 December 1861) was an Austrian painter and photographer.

He was born in Vienna on 15 April 1815, the son of the master cabinet-maker and inventor, Johann Gottlieb Sockl and Sophie, née Shurer von Waldheim (among his siblings, the writer Sophie von Scherer, née Sockl). In 1834–1836, Sockl studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, first as a student of sculpture, later developing an interest in painting. In 1841, he painted the portrait of his youngest brother Hermann Karl Sockl as a 16-year-old youth (painting lost) and in 1843 he painted an altar piece for the church of the Piarists Maria Treu in Josefstadt, Vienna.

From around 1846, he lived in Transylvania, appearing in the artistic circle of Theodor Glatz, who recommends him locally as a talented painter. He teaches painting in Hermannstadt (today Sibiu), at the Brukenthal Art Gallery, where in 1847 he meets, as a student, his future wife, Clara Adelheid Soterius von Sachsenheim. Her portrait, painted in that year, is considered representative for the Biedermeier period in Transylvania, expressing on a bucholic background, the personality of the model, the cromathics and the discreet elegancy of the dress. The original of the painting is lost in England, fortunately, a copy was commissioned by Theodor's nephew Dr. med Arthur Soterius von Sachsenheim before he brought the original painting to Theodor's sons in England in 1905. This copy is now in the Brașov County Museum of History.

Theodor and Clara started to live together out of wedlock, much to the displeasure of her widowed mother and the rest of the family (at the time they all considered her the black sheep of the family). But despite resistance from the family, who had doubts about giving consent to marriage due to Theodor's insecure position and also because of his religious and status differences, the couple were married on 12 August 1847 in Mehadia.