August Schoefft

August Theodor Schoefft (1809 – 1888) was a 19th-century Hungarian painter. He spent more than one year in the Sikh Empire, arriving in 1841, where he painted portraits and scenes of the surrounding area. His best known works include The Court of Lahore and Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Darbar Sahib. A painting by Scheofft sold at Christie's for over £91,250 in 2009. While in India, Schoefft painted portraits of British and French officials, diplomats, and Indian princes. He also travelled to Mexico, the United States, and several countries in the Middle East, where he made further paintings, with his works being exhibited at Vienna, Paris, and London. Interested in visually recording the exotic, Schoefft travelled from an early age, crossing several continents in his quest for foreign artistic inspiration. Engaging in Orientalism, Schoefft's paintings presented cultural imagery —sometimes accurately and other times salaciously— designed to engage European audiences with their far removed subject matter.