Friedrich von Amerling (1803–1887) was one of Vienna’s leading artistic personalities of the Biedermeier period. He received commissions from the Habsburg court, the Austrian nobility and the haute bourgeoisie, because no other portraitist could blend realism and idealism so aptly. In addition, throughout his life Amerling studied his own appearance in a series of self-portraits and portrayed many of his fellow artists. He became particularly popular for his depictions of young women, and stories circulated about little clues inserted into their costumes. Amerling’s approximately 1,200 paintings are collected here for the first time in an illustrated catalogue raisonné, a publication financially supported by The Dorotheum.
The Dorotheum has a special connection with Friedrich von Amerling because the artist’s estate was auctioned at the Dorotheum in 1916 for the benefit of the foundation of the Genossenschaft der bildenden Künstler Wiens.
Sabine Grabner: Friedrich von Amerling. Catalogue raisonné of the paintings. With the collaboration of Katharina Lovecky. With contributions by Martin Böhm, Udo Felbinger, Sabine Grabner, Katharina Lovecky, Stella Rollig. Belvedere Catalogues Raisonné, vol. 13. Deutscher Kunstverlag, December 2024, 336 pages with 640 color illustrations, bilingual (German, English), 24 × 31 cm. Hardback: 978-3-422-80223-0; e-book: 978-3-422-80224-7. Accept cookies — we receive a commission; price unchanged — and order bilingual German-English catalogue from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de.
In her Preface, Stella Rollig underlines that Friedrich von Amerling’s most significant period was the 1830s, when he developed the individual approach to the human portrait that would go on to accompany his entire oeuvre. The upper echelons of the bourgeoisie, the nobility, and even members of the imperial family visited his studio and posed for him.
According to Stella Rollig, Friedrich von Amerling knew exactly how to show the people from their best side, without, however, forgetting to capture any deviations from the norms of beauty. Atmosphere and presentation were key. Amerling was the uncontested master of his age. His portraits continued the tradition of the baroque self portrayal, yet they had a humanity that decisively influenced the approach to portraiture of the next generation and of such artists as Hans Makart, Hans Canon and Gustav Klimt.
Stella Rollig writes that Friedrich von Amerling devoted himself with similar idealism to genre painting, in which he demonstrated his skills in another way. By combining portrait and genre he created a wealth of richly inventive images that contributed to the significant international reputation of Viennese Biedermeier painting.
In her catalogue contribution entitled Friedrich von Amerling and the Many Aspects of the Portrait, Sabine Grabner stresses that Friedrich von Amerling’s significance for Austrian art can be largely attributed to his works from the 1830s. She identifies his stays in London, Paris, and Rome, his investigation of contemporary painting as well as his precise studying and copying of the Old Masters as key catalists for the high quality of the paintings he created during these years.
According to Sabine Grabner, Amerling’s particular gift lies in his sensitive approach to the human face. His objective was to reveal the essence of his subject and to unite it with characteristic external features. Despite his references to social status or the rank and dignity of his subjects, he still succeeded in blurring the boundary between representation and privacy as a way of making his portraits accessible.
Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller focused on the accurate depiction of a face at the moment in which he saw it, comparable to a snapshot taken with a camera, whereas the basis of Amerling’s portraits was the fusion of reality and appearance. Additionally, Amerling understood how to tastefully position his subject within the pictorial space, all according to Sabine Grabner.
Amerling pursued a well considered marketing strategy with the objective of strengthening both his own reputation and that of his works. As an example, Sabine Grabner mentions that, as early as in the 1830s, the artist opened his studio to the public for one day a week. A novelty for Vienna. This was discussed in the newspapers which, in turn, aroused the curiosity of an admiring audience.
In the 1880s, Friedrich von Amerling painted his final self-portrait, in which the spherical illumination lends him the aura of eternity (Self-portrait, illuminated from above, painted after 1880; LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna). Around this time, the old Amerling ceased to have any influence over contemporary art. On the other hand, the impact of the works of the young Amerling continued well into the second half of the century. The painters of the next generation—above all Hans Makart and Hans Canon—adopted his innovative and pioneering ideas, developed them further and, as a result, became the leading portrait painters of historicism in Vienna. Against this background, the fact that he even outlived his successors—Makart died in 1884, three years before Amerling, and Canon one year later—can only bedescribed as a twist of fate, according to Sabine Grabner.
In her catalogue contribution entitled More than Viennese Feminine Grace? Observations about Friedrich von Amerling’s Genre Paintings and Portraits of Women, Katharina Lovecky notes that during his lifetime, Friedrich von Amerling was regarded as the “painter of Viennese feminine grace par excellence.” Yet his biographer Günther Probszt, who recorded this widely held opinion, also considered that Amerling never succeeded in penetrating the deepest corners of the female soul. In her catalogue chapter, Katharina Lovecky assess the accuracy of Probszt’s harsh critique and examines how Amerling characterized women in his portraits and genre paintings and investigates the cultural-historical and sociopolitical traces that can be found in his depictions of female subjects. Only one answer here: Social criticism plays no role in Amerling’s genre scenes. He presented his models to great effect in the light of his studio, liberated from the restrictions of everyday life.
In an appendix entitled Friedrich von Amerling’s Life, Sabine Grabner presents the artist’s life in chronological, from his birth on April 14, 1803 in Mariahilf, just outside Vienna, to his death on January 14, 1887. His death certificate records stated that he had died “of old age.” He was laid to rest in the family grave in the Protestant Matzleinsdorf Cemetery. In the same year, Amerling’s widow set up “a foundation with a capital of 5,000 fl. with the provision that, every year on Amerling’s birthday, the interest earned on this capital should benefit two artists who are unable to work through no fault of their own.” On June 11, 1902 the monument to Friedrich von Amerling, created in marble by the sculptor Johannes Benk, was unveiled in Vienna’s Stadtpark.
As so often, this is just a tiny glimpse into an outstanding book.
Sabine Grabner: Friedrich von Amerling. Catalogue raisonné of the paintings. With the collaboration of Katharina Lovecky. With contributions by Martin Böhm, Udo Felbinger, Sabine Grabner, Katharina Lovecky, Stella Rollig. Belvedere Catalogues Raisonné, vol. 13. Deutscher Kunstverlag, December 2024, 336 pages with 640 color illustrations, bilingual (German, English), 24 × 31 cm. Hardback: 978-3-422-80223-0; e-book: 978-3-422-80224-7. Accept cookies — we receive a commission; price unchanged — and order bilingual German-English catalogue from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de.
For a better reading, quotations and partial quotations in this review of Amerling’s catalog raisonné are not put between quotation marks.
Book review of Friedrich von Amerling. Catalogue raisonné of the paintings added on August 14, 2025 at 14:17 German time.
