Hermann Kern was an Austro-Hungarian painter celebrated as one of most acclaimed genre painters of generation, notably serving as the official court painter of Franz Josef I in Vienna. Kern’s nostalgic paintings are often a mixture of still life and portraiture—among his favorite recurring themes was the depiction of aging bachelors in a kitchen, preparing to cook with a plethora of vegetables and a boiling cauldron. Born on March 14, 1838 in Liptóújvár, Hungary, he went on to study at both the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and the at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Kern was a close friend of the famed composer Franz Liszt, and was a competent pianist himself. Today, his works are primarily held in private collections. He died on January 18, 1912 in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria.