STIELER, Karl Joseph
(b. 1781, Mainz, d. 1858, München)

Nanette Heine, née Kaula

1829
Oil on canvas
Schloss Nymphenburg, Munich

The competition between the painters nourished the growth of thematic specialization in the academies. In Munich, the term "Fächler" (subject specialists) became current, as painters specialised in landscape, portrait, history, or religious painting. Some fought their way through the fierce competition to become widely celebrated. They include the portrait painter Karl Joseph Stieler, who was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria to paint a portrait gallery of the most graceful ladies in the land. The subjects include Nanette Kaula, the 17-year-old daughter of the head of the Jewish community, who was married to a nephew of Heinrich Heine, and Amalie Schintling, who died young. Stieler was not only technically highly accomplished, but has also left a document of the ideal of beauty of his time.