Oskar Merté

Oskar Merté (* October 23, 1872, in Munich; † June 23, 1938, in Bad Aibling) was a German painter, draftsman, and illustrator.

Oskar Merté was born in Munich, the son of painters Heinrich Merté (1838–1917) and Emilie Merté. From 1884 until April 29, 1891, he studied painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich under Karl Raupp.

For many years, Merté worked for the publications Fliegende Blätter and the Deutsche Kavalleriezeitung. He focused primarily on battle scenes and equestrian painting.

He became a student and collaborator of the battle painter Franz Alexeyevich Roubaud. Under Roubaud’s direction, Merté, along with Leopold Schönchen and Karl H. Frosch, created the 115-meter-long and 14-meter-high Panorama of the Siege of Sevastopol from 1901 to 1904, and later, from 1911 to 1912, worked on the Panorama of the Battle of Borodino.

Merté primarily illustrated children’s books with stories of soldiers’ lives, and many of his works were published as postcards.