Lot 5: FRIEDRICH VON AMERLING

FRIEDRICH VON AMERLING AUSTRIAN 1803 - 1887 JOSEPH AMERLING ALS KNABE (THE ARTIST'S BROTHER) oil on canvas 57.7 by 43.7cm., 22¾ by 17¼in.

Vienna, Österreichische Galerie im oberen Belvedere, Wiener Akademie-Ausstellung, 1830, no. 186
Vienna, Historische Ausstellung der k.k. Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, 1877, no. 3050

Friedrich von Bötticher, Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts, Dresden 1901, vol. 1, p. 33, no. 2 (as Knaben-Porträt)
Günther Probszt, Friedrich von Amerling, Der Altmeister der Wiener Portraitmalerei, Vienna, 1927, p. 113, no. 164
'Kunstbeilage', Wiener neueste Nachrichten, 22 March 1931, illustrated on the cover

A. Fischer von Ankern (sale: Wawra, Vienna, auction 183, 1903, lot 2)
Acquired by the family of the present owner circa 1965

Painted in 1829.

Joseph von Amerling (1818-85), the artist's younger brother and seen here aged eleven, went on to enjoy an illustrious military career. In 1832 he joined the Austrian army as an artilleryman, and from 1847 taught geometry and French at the Royal Military Academy. In 1852 he transferred to the engineers corp, overseeing military building projects in Peschiera, Prague, and Zagreb, and was promoted to Major in 1862.

The present work relates to a similar portrait painted in the same year, Joseph Amerling als fauler Student, in the Moravská Galerie, Brno (fig. 1).

FIG. 1, Joseph Amerling, Joseph Amerling als fauler Student, Moravská Galerie, Brno