Portrait database „Der Humorist“

The database (2013) is designed to facilitate the discovery of personal portraits featured in the Viennese theater journal Der Humorist. It offers access to over 2,600 portraits—both character and civilian portraits—including original drawings and later photographs of performing artists from a wide range of genres from the opera to the circus. As many of them are either inadequately documented or not documented at all, this resource supports biographical and iconographical research in music and theater history.

To create this MySQL database, the content of volumes 4 (1884) to 46 (1926) of Der Humorist were analyzed, resulting in a biographical index of all depicted persons. Most entries are directly linked to the corresponding issue of the journal available in the ANNO portal of the Austrian National Library.