German painter who painted the portraits of the Mahatma Koot Hoomi and Morya from June 19 to July 9, 1884. He later made duplicates of these paintings. The original paintings are now in the Shrine Room of the Headquarters Building of the Theosophical Society (TS) in Adyar, Chennai (Madras), India. In a letter to Helena P. Blavatsky, Mahatma Morya wrote that he would assist in the painting of the portrait by guiding the hands of Schmiechen.

Schmiechen also painted two portraits of H. P. Blavatsky. The first one was made in 1884 in Elberfeld, Germany, and the second one was made in London in 1885. According to the Reader’s Guide to the Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, the first one is now in London at 31 Holland Villas Road, the second is at the headquarters of the Indian Section of the Theosophical Society in Varanasi, India.

V.H.C.

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