Friedrich Ritter Von Amerling Biography
Friedrich von Amerling (Vienna, 14 April 1803 – 14 January 1887) was an Austrian painter. A portraitist, he was court painter to Franz Joseph of Austria from 1835 to 1880. He is considered, with Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, the greatest Austrian portraitist of the 19th century. Friedrich von Amerling was the son of the goldsmith Franz Amerling and Theresia Kargl. From 1815 to 1824 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and subsequently the Academy in Prague, until 1826. Between 1827 and 1828 he then stayed in London, where he was influenced by the portraitist Sir Thomas Lawrence. He subsequently visited Paris and Rome, before returning to Vienna, where he began working for the court and for the Austrian aristocratic and middle classes. In 1829 he was awarded the Reichel Prize by the Vienna Academy, the first of a long series of honors that accompanied him throughout his life. Amerling never stopped travelling: in 1836 and 1838 he went to Italy, 1838 to Holland, 1839 to Munich and from 1840 to 1843 he stayed in Rome. In 1882 it was Spain's turn, in 1883 England, in 1884 Greece and in 1885 he visited Scandinavia, where he went as far as the North Cape. In 1886, a year before his death, he reached Egypt and Palestine. Amerling married four times. The first marriage was celebrated in 1832 with Antonie Kaltenthaler and ended in 1843 following her death. The second, with Katharina Heissler, was brief (1844–45) and ended in divorce. The third with Emilie Heinrich lasted from 1857 to 1880, until her death. The fourth and last marriage (1881-1887) united him to Maria Nemetschkefu, until the end of his days. In 1878 Amerling was raised to the nobility and from this time was called Friedrich Ritter von Amerling.
