Thomas Ender
Meet the Austrian painter who accompanied the naturalists Spix and Martius during the first part of their Travels in Brazil (1817-1818)
St. Ulrich, Ender (1860) by Thomas EnderOriginal Source: Artsy
Thomas Ender (1793-1875) was born in the Viennese suburb of St. Ulrich, Austria. Aged just 13, he was admitted to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts along with his twin brother Johann Ender, who also became a renowned painter.
Emperor Francis I of Austria (1832) by Friedrich von AmerlingAlte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
At the Academy, Thomas Ender showed great interest in nature and landscape studies and his paintings soon gained prominence. At the age of 23, he was chosen by the Emperor of Austria, Francis I, to hold the position of official painter of the Austrian Mission in Brazil.
Portrait of Maria Leopoldina of Austria (1815) by Joseph KreutzingerOriginal Source: Wikimedia commons
Austrian Mission in Brazil
The Austrian Mission was an artistic-scientific expedition formed on the occasion of the marriage of Leopoldina, daughter of the Emperor of Austria, to the Crown Prince of Portugal (Dom Pedro I). It brought together naturalists and artists, not only from Austria but also from Bavaria and Italy.
Die Österreichischen Kamer Herm auf der Reise nach St. Paul (1817) by Thomas Ender (1793-1875)Original Source: Spix Museum
Botany
The Austrian Mission already had an expert in botanical painting, the Austrian painter Johann Buchberger (?-1821). Therefore, it was not Ender’s task to paint the vegetation in a classificatory way. His main objective was only to portray the landscapes.
Thomas Ender (1831) by Friedrich von AmerlingOriginal Source: Wikimedia commons
Early in the expedition, however, Buchberger suffered a very serious accident, falling from his mule onto a branch that pierced his abdomen. Ender found himself forced to take on his colleague’s tasks. Buchberger never recovered from the accident, dying in Vienna in 1821.
During the two years he accompanied the expedition (1817-1818), Ender produced various schematic drawings and watercolors of Brazilian plants. These works, focused exclusively on the flora, diverged from the scientific aspect of the naturalist program, having been used as realistic elements in landscape compositions. Several of these works were included in his Travel Album, which was acquired by the National Library of Rio de Janeiro in 1937.
Flora Brasiliensis: Vol. VI, Part II, Fasc. 62 Column 0 (1873-06-01)CRIA - Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental
Flora Brasiliensis
The largest number of engravings made from Thomas Ender’s watercolors belongs to the lithographed images for the first volume of von Martius’ most ambitious work: Flora Brasiliensis.
Martius began writing this book in 1833, but the work, written in Latin, was only published in installments from 1840 when the Chancellor of Austria at the time, Prince Metternich, decided to finance the work together with Dom Pedro II.
Flora Brasiliensis, in its final form, consists of 15 volumes subdivided into 40 parts originally published in the form of 140 individual fascicles. Ender’s engravings are part of the iconography of the first volume, entitled “Tabulae Physiognomicae”. This volume contains 59 lithographs based on the works of great European artists, among them the painters Benjamin Mary (1792-1846), Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802-1858), and Thomas Ender (1793-1875).
View from Corcovado Summit, 1500 feet high, over the ocean (1817-1818) by Thomas EnderOriginal Source: Wikimedia commons
Models for Flora Brasiliensis
As the official painter of the Austrian Mission, Thomas Ender accompanied the naturalists Spix and Martius through Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Here and below, we will present some of the watercolors that were used as models for the lithographs of Flora Brasiliensis.
View from the top of Corcovado, near São Sebastião in Rio de Janeiro.
Forest on Corcovado hill, near São Sebastião, province of Rio de Janeiro.
Forest on Corcovado hill, near the aqueduct of the source of the Carioca. This watercolor shows both the lush vegetation that still existed at that time and the deforestation for coffee plantations.
Laranjeiras valley near São Sebastião in Rio de Janeiro.
View from the top of the mountain in the Serra de Itaguaí, facing east, province of Rio de Janeiro.
The campos gerais (‘grasslands’) next to the Serra da Mantiqueira near Lorena, province of São Paulo.
Hill called Morro Formoso, on the border of the provinces of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Fields called ‘general’, near Mogi das Cruzes, in the province of São Paulo.
From São Paulo, Spix and Martius set off on their great expedition into the interior of Brazil, while Ender returned to Rio de Janeiro in January 1818 as he had become weak. Fascinated by Brazil, Ender painted to the point of exhaustion. The hot and humid climate, combined with a high fever, left him bedridden. It was Baron von Langsdorff who took care of him, bringing him back to Fazenda da Mandioca (‘Cassava Farm’) and the revitalizing climate of the Serra dos Órgãos.
Rancho auf dem Wege nach Mandioca (1817) by Thomas EnderOriginal Source: Wikimedia commons
After recovering at Fazenda Mandioca, Ender returned to Europe in June 1818 with the first returnees from the Austrian Mission. Although he returned earlier than planned, Ender brilliantly accomplished the mission he had been given by Emperor Francis I.
Mariana, Thomas Ender (1817-1818) by Thomas EnderOriginal Source: Wikimedia Commons
Thomas Ender in the interior of Brazil?
Ender never went to Goiás or Minas Gerais, but his talent allowed him to artistically appropriate sketches done by Johann Emanuel Pohl (1782-1834) with a camera lucida. In total, Ender produced 23 watercolors with incredible landscapes of the central-western region of Brazil.
Thomas Ender (1831) by Friedrich von AmerlingOriginal Source: Wikimedia commons
Results of the trip
In total, Ender delivered 763 watercolors and drawings from this journey to the emperor: 568 depicted Brazil, and 177 were created during the crossing. He also presented his benefactor in Vienna, Prince Metternich, with a sketchbook containing 244 pencil and watercolor drafts.
Research and writing: Fernando B. Matos (CRIA)
Assembly: Fernando B. Matos (CRIA)
Review: Renato De Giovanni (CRIA)
References: Flora Brasiliensis (http://florabrasiliensis.cria.org.br/opus), Travels in Brazil (https://www2.senado.leg.br/bdsf/handle/id/573991), Ender e o Brasil, obra completa (Julio Bandeira, 2022. Editora Capivara).
Additional information: http://florabrasiliensis.cria.org.br/stories
Acknowledgments: Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna; Biblioteca Nacional do Rio de Janeiro; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
*Every effort has been made to credit the images, audio, and video and correctly recount the episodes narrated in the exhibitions. If you find errors and/or omissions, please email contato@cria.org.br
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