Marie Ellenrieder was a German painter and lived from 1791 til 1863. Her father was a clock maker and her mother’s father was the Baroque painter Franz Ludwig Hermann. It’s not surprising that Marie Ellenrieder also became a painter, but it might be surprising that she, as woman during the 19th century, dedicated her whole life to the art and did so successfully.
After her education with Dominican nuns, Ellenrieder became an apprentice to miniature painter Joseph Einsle. As the first woman she was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1813. She worked as a court painter for South-Western courts but also produced religious works.
From 1822 until 1824 Ellenrieder stayed in Rome and was greatly influenced by the artist group, the Nazarenes, among them Friedrich Overbeck. After her studies in Rome, Ellenrieder traveled to Florence with her friend Katharina von Predl, and they both stayed and worked with the engraver and art dealer Johann Baptist Metzger. She returned a year later to Baden and focused solely on her religious art.
Ellenrieder was awarded the Golden Medal for Art and Science by the Baden Art Association, as the first woman. In 1829, Grand Duke Ludwig appointed her court-painter. She produced two large religious paintings for British Queen Victoria in 1847 and 1849.
In 1863, Ellenrieder died in Konstanz.
