Austrian genre- and portrait-painter, born in Bohemia as the son of a prosperous Jewish merchant. Pollak showed an early talent for painting. In 1819, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where he studied for five years under the Director of the Academy, Joseph Bergler. He continued his studies in Vienna with Johann Peter Krafft. Sponsored by his parents, he then moved to Rome in 1831 to complete his artistic education, studying under the painter Leopold Schutz. From 1832 he joined the circle of German-speaking artists in Rome and was a founder member of the Deutscher Kunstler Verein (Federation of German artists). He became a naturalized citizen of Italy. The major early influence on his career was the German artist August Riedel whom he met in Rome and whose portrait by Pollak is now in Munich. Pollak emulated both the subject matter and the style of Riedel whose beautifully lit and well crafted genre paintings of elegant peasant families wearing traditional costume were a major source of inspiration. He was probably also influenced by the picturesque genre paintings of Roman and Neapolitan peasants wearing colourful costumes popularised by the French émigré artist Léopold Robert. Despite the early neglect of his work, Pollak's reputation started to soar during the 1840s when his sweetly painted genre paintings became much sought after and were represented in some of the most illustrious aristocratic and royal collections. During his later career, Pollak painted pictures of genre subjects which are more obviously Germanic in their subject matter and Biedermeier in taste. Several of his paintings were engraved by Mandel and Straucher. //