Eduard Bendemann - Portrait of the Painter's Daughter Marie Euler

Eduard Bendemann

Portrait of the Painter's Daughter Marie Euler

Oil on panel. 121 x 85.5 cm.
Monogrammed and dated lower right: 18 EB 66 (E and B conjoined).

Eduard Bendemann was one of the leading representatives of the Düsseldorf school. He came from Berlin to enter the academy in Düsseldorf together with Friedrich Wilhelm von Schadow in 1827. He remained among Schadow's closest circle until the end of his life, following in his footsteps to become Director of the Düsseldorf Academy in 1859.
He was not only a close friend and artistic follower of Schadow, the two were also related: Bendemann married the sister of the painter, Lida Schadow (1821-1895). The sitter of this portrait, Marie (1841-1874), was the second of their six children. She later went on to marry the lawyer and politician Ernst Euler (1835-1925) and was the mother of the artist Eduard Euler.
Eduard Bendemann painted his daughter, who died at a young age, in 1866. She is depicted three-quarter length against a salon wall with wood panelling and pale red fabric wallpaper. The painting is reminiscent of a portrait of his wife Lida, which the artist made 20 years previously and which is now kept in the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.