19th Century German

History and Landscape Painter.

After finishing his secondary education, Ernst Körner took up landscape painting in 1861 in Berlin, training at the studio of Hermann Eschke (1823-1900). He later studied the art of painting animals with Carl Steffeck (1818-1890) and Gottlieb Biermann (1824-1908).

In 1868 Körner embarked on a tour throughout different countries, starting with the north of France, continuing to the Harz mountain range in northern Germany and then to the Baltic Sea. He visited Capri on four occasions between 1869 and 1878, and it is known that he visited England and Scotland in 1872. But it was on his trip to Egypt in 1873, when he had already consolidated his mature style, that he saw Egyptian art for the first time, an event which would leave an indelible mark on his future creation. He travelled throughout the Arabian Peninsula and Anatolia, and was to return to Egypt three more times: in 1878, 1887 and 1905.

On a journey to Granada in 1882, when he visited the Alhambra, Körner also explored the connections between European and Islamic art.

Similarly to his colleague Wilhelm Gentz (1822-1890), Körner is highly representative of the Orientalist style that permeated nineteenth century painting, which started with the Napoleonic campaigns and continued to resonate in the landscapes of the Nile painted by Paul Klee (1879-1940). Körner’s paintings and watercolours faithfully capture the foreign architecture and art creations of the Oriental places and traditions that caused such furore among the public at the time.

The number of distinctions and appointments he received stands as good proof of the high esteem in which his work was held by his coevals. In 1873 he was awarded Vienna’s Gold Medal, and he also won medals at exhibitions in Philadelphia (1876), Berlin (1887, 1891) and Melbourne (1888). He was appointed professor at the University of Berlin and was President of the Berlin Artists Association from 1895 to 1899.

At present his oeuvre is still pending thorough scholarly research and revaluation. His works can be found in the collections of some major international museums, including, among others, the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Museum Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden; and the Dahesh Museum of Art, New York.