Thomas Ender

1793–1875, Vienna

Thomas Ender, an etcher and landscape painter, was trained at the Vienna Academy, where he received an award for his landscape drawings in 1810. His approach to landscape was modelled on that of such illustrious predecessors as Claude Lorrain and Jacob van Ruisdael, but he also engaged in extensive studies of nature, which he doggedly pursued during his walking tours through the Austrian Alps. An enterprising and industrious artist, Ender enjoyed the protection of Archduke Johann and Prince Metternich. Having taken part in an Austrian expedition to Brazil in the spring of 1817, he travelled with Metternich to Rome in 1819 and spent four years in Italy. Other journeys later took him to France, Southern Russia and the Orient. Ender’s landscapes are distinguished by their faithfulness to reality, technical prowess and sensitivity in capturing light effects.