German Artist: Josef Bernhard Einsle

Portrait miniature by Josef Bernhard Einsle depicting a Napoleonic Era German lady with knitting materials at her side and a calico cat on her lap

Napoleonic Era German Lady with Knitting Materials
at Her Side and a Calico Cat on Her Lap

German
dated 1812 (when German states were under domination of the French Empire)
by Josef Bernhard Einslee (1774-1829)

2 9/16 inches diameter (sight)

watercolor on ivory; housed in a gilt metal surround that
was likely originally set within an ebonized wood frame

About the Artist: Joseph Bernhard Einsle was born in 1774, in the Bavarian town of Göggingen, a suburb of Augsburg. He is well known for his portraits of middle class subjects in touching scenes of everyday life, but he also painted more important subjects, such as Leopold II, 1747-1792 (Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary 1790-1792) and the King of Wuerttemberg (dated 1803). According to Blättel, he exhibited at the Academy Engine (Vienna) and was a painter to the court of Vienna. He is known to have lived and worked in Göggingen, Constanz at Lake Bodensee, Vienna, Frankfurt, Munich, and Augsburg. He died in Augsburg in 1829, at the age of 55. Listed by Benezit, Blättel (pages 326, 327) and Schidlof (page 233).