Albert Ritzberger (1853 - 1915)

Albert Ritzberger (May 20, 1853 in Pfaffstätt – November 8, 1915 in Linz) was an Austrian draftsman and painter.

Ritzberger came from a family of teachers and was himself a teacher in Lohnsburg am Kobernausserwald and Henhart until 1879. He exhibited his first drawings in an art shop in Linz. Because of his chalk portraits, he was able to study at the Vienna School of Applied Arts under Ferdinand Laufberger in 1876/77 and then to train at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (1879 to 1884) under Heinrich von Angeli.

Encouraged by a number of awards, he founded his own studio in Gumpendorf in 1884 and a year later married Luise, the daughter of the court architect Hans Smattosch. From 1887 to 1890 he ran his studio in Munich and in 1893 he moved to Salzburg. In 1893 he traveled to Italy and Holland, after which he stayed in Vienna and Salzburg. From 1890 until his death he lived and worked partly in Linz and partly in Aschach an der Donau in studios on family-owned properties.

From 1887 he was a member of the Wiener Künstlerhaus. Ritzberger died on November 8, 1915 in Linz, his grave is now in the urn grove Urfahr in Linz. In Linz and in Aschach a street is named after him.