Catalogue raisonné: Friedrich von Amerling

In May 1916, the painter Friedrich Amerling’s extensive estate was sold at an exciting auction at Dorotheum for the benefit of Viennese artists in need. More than 100 years later, a comprehensive catalogue raisonné of the works of this leading artistic personality of the Biedermeier period is now available.

Friedrich Amerling was an eminent Viennese painter of the 19th century. He was most popular for his single-figure genre paintings, often showing pretty girls in graceful poses. Of particular importance were Amerling’s portraits, which earned him – due to their tasteful arrangements – the reputation of being the “most fashionable” painter in Vienna. His œuvre reads like a who’s who of the imperial city of Vienna. Members of the court, the high aristocracy and the upper middle class wanted to be painted by him, because no one else was able to blend reality and appearance so deftly. Amerling also captured himself throughout his life in many self-portraits and painted numerous of his fellow artists as personal keepsakes.

The most important period of his work was in the 1830s and 1840s. His works from this period were widely influential for his contemporaries until well into the second half of the century. The painters of the following generation – above all, Hans Makart and Hans Canon – took over his innovative and groundbreaking ideas, developed them further and thus became the leading portrait painters of historicism in Vienna. What an irony of fate that Amerling outlived his successors: Hans Makart died three years before him, in 1884, and Hans Canon the following year.

Towards the end of his life, things had become quiet around Amerling as a person. Even the book Friedrich von Amerling. Ein Lebensbild (Friedrich von Amerling. A life in pictures), written by his friend Ludwig August Frankl shortly after Amerling’s death, failed to revive the painter’s fame. This oblivion was to last until 1927, the year Günther Probszt published the first monograph. Probszt critically examined Amerling’s œuvre and placed its importance for the development of 19th century art in a new light. Since then, Amerling’s merit has been undisputed. His works were represented in numerous exhibitions of Viennese Biedermeier, 19th Century Art or Austrian Art. The first monographic Amerling exhibition was held at the Upper Belvedere in spring 2003. The idea of reappraising the painter’s œuvre has existed ever since. Based on Günther Probszt’s seminal work, an illustrated catalogue raisonné in digital and printed form is finally available in Autumn 2024, compiling Amerling’s approximately 1,300 paintings. It is supplemented by essays discussing the artist’s life and career, his conception of art, his models and his richly furnished residence, the so-called Amerling Schlössl (Amerling Castle).

Sabine Grabner, curator of 19th century paintings at the Austrian Gallery, is the author of the monograph Friedrich Amerling (November 2024), published as part of the Belvedere’s series of catalogues raisonnés sponsored by Dorotheum.