Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (15 January 1793 in Vienna, † 23 August 1865 in Hinterbrühl, Austria) was an Austrian painter and writer.

He briefly attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, however later had to finance his life by painting portraits. In 1811 he got a job as a teacher of arts for the children of Count Gyulay in Croatia. After 3 years he returned to Vienna and started to improve his skills by copying the works of old masters.

Waldmüller later became interested in nature and thus started painting landscapes (genre painting). His most notable work lies in the depiction of nature, where his sense for colours and large knowledge of nature helped him to achieve masterly skills.

In 1823 he made a painting of Ludwig van Beethoven.

He was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, however had a couple disputes with the Viennese establishment, most notably for his comments on the system of the academy, where he wanted to establish a focus of the study on nature.