The Life and Education of Marie Ertl
Marie Ertl was an Austrian painter born in Šternberk, Czech Republic. Due to the frequent relocations of her father, who served as a district court president in Ungarisch Hradisch, her childhood and youth were spent moving through various Bohemian-Moravian and Hungarian communities. In 1863, she settled in Vienna, where she began her formal artistic training. From 1874 to 1877, she studied at the drawing school of the sculptor Franz Pönninger, and between 1877 and 1880, she studied under the painter Anton Hlavaček, who introduced her to oil and watercolor techniques.
Her artistic development continued in Munich under the landscape painter Peter Paul Müller. Ertl also refined her skills by copying Old Masters at the Belvedere Gallery and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. During her career, she undertook an eight-month study trip to Italy, visiting Rome, Naples, and Sicily.
Artistic Works and Exhibitions
Ertl’s oeuvre primarily consists of landscapes, with a particular focus on motifs from the Lower Austrian municipality of Perchtoldsdorf and Bavaria. Her diverse body of work also includes still lifes, flower pieces, and occasional portraiture, executed in oil, watercolor, and drawing. Her subjects ranged from the scenery of Capri and the Dachstein to the landscapes of Alt-Aussee and various scenes from Perchtoldsdorf.
She was an active participant in numerous exhibitions, including:
In addition to her work as a visual artist, Ertl provided instruction in painting and drawing. Following her death in Vienna, her artistic estate was auctioned at the Dorotheum in 1910.