Figure 1.--This Ender portrait was titled 'Mutter und sohn'--mother and son. The family is not identifid. It is not dated. We might guess it was painted about 1830. Notice the open ruffled collar. Notice the classical column and drapes. This popular convention also appared in early CDV portraits. (earlier formats tebded to have plain backgrounds.)

Johan Nepomuk Ender was born in Vienna during tumultuous times (1793). This was the year that King Louis XVI was executed and the regign of terror began. He grew up during the Napoleonic Wars. He he studied at the Vienna Academy. And soon was awarded four important prizes. He soon achieved a popular following as a portrait painter in fashionble Vienna. A formtive adveventure was a trip with Count Szecheni of Hungary on a tour of Turkey and Greece (1818-19). He then traveled to Italy to view the Renaissance masters (1820). He produced works from Biblical and historical subjects. Finally he stayed in Paris for a year. He returned to Vienna (1827). He then persued a career in Vienna specialing in portait miniatures and historical paintings. He was appointed as a professor at the Academy (1829-50). We find his work very valuable because he produced many portraits of families and children. Yhis is very valuable because without photography there are far fewer imahes with which to work. The unidentified mother and child here are a good example (figure 1). We notice another unidentified boy in 1829. This provides us quite a number of images of children's clothing in the early-19th century before we have photographic evidence.

Created: 6:47 AM 5/7/2015
Last updated: 6:47 AM 5/7/2015