Soma Orlai Petrich

Who was Soma Orlai Petrich?

Soma Orlai Petrich, aka Soma Orlay Petrich was a Hungarian painter, born to a Serbian father and Hungarian mother.

He originally wanted to become a writer. He was a pupil of Jakab Marastoni in 1846 and attended Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller's school in Vienna from 1847. He often painted historical themese and in his lithographs he portrayed experiences during the war of independence. He studied from Kaulbach in Munich from 1850. He painted "The Corpse of Louis II" in 1851, a decade before Bertalan Székely's painting. He was also a popular portraitist.