Stable Lad with a Lantern - Stable Lad with a Lantern

Austrian painter and writer Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller was one of the most important Austrian painters of the Biedermeier period.

Born on this day in 1793 in Vienna where he attended the Fine Arts Academy. Between 1817 and 1821 he principally focused on copying works by the Old Masters to be seen in the city’s museums and galleries and for a while worked as a miniaturist. In 1822 he exhibited five of his original works at the Fine Arts Academy. Three years later he made hisfirst trip to Italy, followed by visits to Dresden, Munich and Frankfurt. Over the next fifteen years he principally focused on portraiture. Waldmüller received his first royal commission in 1827 to paint two versions of the portrait of the Emperor Francis I (Wien Museum, and Hypotheken & Creditinstitut, Vienna). Waldmüller became the principal painter of the Biedermeier style in Austria and his paintings reflect a conservative, pleasant vision of middle-class life. His style is characterised by an attention to detail in the description of the settings and objects that surround the figures. Waldmüller was also a specialist in flower painting and from the 1830s began to paint views of the parks and outskirts of Vienna. In the following decade he became increasingly interested in genre paintings, particularly scenes of rural life, works in which the figures and details are painted in highly realistic manner with an intense illumination.

Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller 
Stable Lad with a Lantern
Oil on panel
36,5 x 30 cm
1825