(Vienna 1803–1887)
Portrait of court actor Friedrich Reil 1832,
oil on canvas, 50.5 x 40.5 cm, framed, (W)

Provenance:
Collection of Solomon Manfred Singer (1856-1930), before 1936
Private Collection, Vienna.

Catalogued in:
Günther Probszt, Friedrich von Amerling, Amalthea Verlag Zurich, Leipzig, Vienna 1927, CR 261, p. 117;
Sabine Grabner, Friedrich von Amerling, Eine Ausstellung der Österreichischen Galerie Belvedere, 26 March-22 June 2003, p. 113

The court actor depicted here, Friedrich Reil (1773 - 1843), was a member of the ensemble of the Imperial and Royal Court Theater. Previous to this he had played in theatres in Brünn, Ljubljana, Stuttgart, Vienna and Salzburg, before ultimately moving to Vienna in 1809, where he worked at the Court Theatre until 1831. In addition to his work as an actor, he also wrote dramas and comedies, along with poems and stories. He also made a name for himself as the translator of the French novel “Paul et Virginie” by Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. This portrait was created in the same year that Friedrich Amerling was commissioned to paint the significant work entitled “Emperor Franz I of Austria in Austrian Imperial Robes”. Although the portrait of the Emperor served a different purpose, this is still a representative work and both works illustrate Amerling’s aspirations in portrait painting. His primary objective was to depict his subject in a true light, with or without symbols of the subject’s social or political status. The portraits he created in the 1830s are often set in intimate, domestic surroundings. The sitter appears introverted and deep in thought. The symbols of their status are present, but are not forced into the foreground, thanks to sensitivity in their representation. Unlike most other portraits of the era, in this work the actor looks directly at the viewer. This direct contact serves as a request to the viewer to approach the actor and his thoughts head-on. Amerling did not paint a rose-tinted picture in his portraits, and his sitters are rendered in a naturally attractive manner.