150th birthday - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1985 - 3.50 Shilling

Franz Defregger was born on April 30, 1835 in Tyrol, on the so-called Edererhof. When his father died, he had to take over the farm at the age of 23 years. However, due to the war events of 1859 and some crop failures, Defregger decided to sell the farm and go on a hike. Defregger was accepted after traveling through Europe, under Professor Piloty, a famous history painter at the Academy in Munich. Defregger made his breakthrough as a painter with his work "The Speckbacher and his son Anderl", which was shown in 1868 at the Munich International Art Exhibition. In 1870 he completed his studies in Munich at the age of 35 years. A short time later Defregger fell ill with a mysterious illness, from which he recovered completely in 1873. The next two decades were the busiest and most creative time of his life. Among other things, in those years he created the work that made him world-famous in one fell swoop, "The last contingent". At the turn of the century, finally, the painter Franz Defregger became quiet, because his pictures with narrative content found no place beside the emerging modern trends of visual art. Modern art history has given Defregger's place in the development of painting and the quality of his artistic work the important place it deserves. On 2 January 1921 Defregger died at the age of 86 years.