Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller ( Waldmueller,Waldmuller * 1793 † 1865 )

Portrait of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

Biography of Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

Miniaturist, illustrator and painter

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller was born on January 15, 1793. The remarkable Austrian painter was best known for his portraiture, although genre and landscape painting best show his realistic, objective style.

The young artist left home when he was 14 and had to earn a living independently. He did what he did best: painting. He concentrated on the most financially lucrative genre: portraiture. Waldmüller studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. His studies were irregular and varied (1807-1813).

In 1811 he began his career as an art teacher for the children of Count Gyulay in Croatia. In 1815 he returned to Vienna. At that time, the Biedermeier era flourished in painting. The so-called period of restoration and the spread of the wealthy middle class brought with it an increase in demand for genre and landscape painting, as well as portraits. The young painter tried to fill this newly created niche and thrive on the market with his excellent skills as a miniaturist.

An important change in his career was the instruction he received in 1818 from Joseph Lange in oil painting and painting Johann Nepomuk Schödlberger took in landscape painting.

In 1823 Ferdinand Waldmüller even painted the portrait of the Austrian composer Ludwig van Beethoven and in 1827 the Emperor Franz I. In the 1830s he experienced the high point in his career. During this time his famous pictures were written: "The family of the notary Dr. Josef Eltz "(1835)," The Dachstein from the Sophien Doppelblick at Ischl "(1835)," Portrait of Louise Mayer "(1836). His portraits had a fantastic depth and still have a special attraction.

The painter made numerous trips to Italy (between 1825 and 1844) and Paris (1830). Meanwhile, he was inspired by the southern light and ancient ruins and developed a growing interest in landscape painting. Later he turned mainly to the genre and landscape depictions. His peasant idyllic scenes touched the important social and sociocritical issues, such as poverty and fate. He integrated elements of the historical picture and dramatic light-shadow reproductions, which gave his genre painting a new dimension.

Ferdinand Waldmüller liked to use the technique of open-air painting or plein-air painting, in the open-air artists, in natural light conditions work. He enviably envisioned nature in detail and appreciated the local beauty. Examples of works of this period are: "Roses" (1843), "The Expected" (1860), "Children get their breakfast" (1859), "The Rose Time" (1862-63), "Early Spring in the Vienna Forest" (1864).

Ferdinand Waldmüller's art gained wide recognition, for which he received the Prussian Red Eagle Order III class shortly before his death in 1861, as well as the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order (1863).

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller died at the age of 72, on 23 August 1865 in an inn in Mödling and was buried in the Matzleinsdorfer cemetery. In 1922, his remains and tombstone were transferred to the Gräberhain in Waldmüllerpark in Vienna.

 

© ART-PRINTS-ON-DEMAND.COM

Wall art prints and famous paintings by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller
To the top