Portrait of a Lady Reading

 Ernst ANDERS  [1845 - 1911] was  a German painter, born in 1845 in Magdeburg and died in 1911 in Mölln/ Lauenburg. At the beginning he was taught engraving by L. Heitland. Between 1861-1868 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, in ateliers of the "Düsseldorf School of Painting" members, such as Carl Müller, Rudolf Wiegmann and Heinrich Mücke. Moreover he improved his painting skills in a private studio of Wilhelm Sohn, who was a painter sensitive to the subtleties of colour and deeply inspired by the art of old master and new tendencies derived from Munich and Paris. In his oeuvre Anders combined the academic experience with the knowledge derived from the Sohn's lessons. He specialized in portraits and genre scenes, often presenting women deeply absorbed in thought or engrossed in reading. His paintings were shown at numerous exhibitions in Vienna and Berlin. Presently they can be viewed in museums in Düsseldorf and Cologne.