(Vienna 1816-1852)
Farewell: A recruit of the Imperial, Royal Infantry Regiment No. 3 (or 49) with his mistress by a wayside shrine dedicated to the Mother of God, signed and dated Treml 1841, watercolour on paper, 20 x 21 cm, mounted, framed, (Hu)

Friedrich Treml was one of the most important pupils of Peter Fendi besides Albert und Carl Schindler. Fendi taught his pupils in his apartment in the Vienna suburb district Landstraße where he lived with his mother and his two nieces. Fendi’s mother cared for the artists in a family-like relationship. Fendi’s pupils were strongly oriented towards the work of their teacher but also influenced each other among themselves. There are several parallels among them which would ultimately lead to also copy each other. An important common subject was the depiction of soldiers as individuals but also in the context of a task force. Treml liked to show the soldier as an individual figure, for example as a lonely sentinel who is looking dreamingly out of or through a window. Only later, from 1840 onwards, one also finds multi-figured military scenes in his work with soldiers in their daily routine and are frequently accompanied by a certain sense of humour. The collaboration between Treml and Schindler was quite close. Besides the mutual appropriation of motifs or copying each other they also collaborated on certain works. After Schindler’s death in 1842, Treml lived with Schindler’s mother in sublease. Stylistically Fendi and his pupils have in common that on the same sheet of paper they arrange a preliminary drawing in pencil next to areas of watercolour. They also share the way of how they leave certain areas of the paper blank and how they highlight single figures with coloured specks – so called „Farbwolken“ (colour clouds). Compared to the other artists Treml preferred stronger contrasts; he is more concrete and more detailed when it comes to the description of motifs (From: Sabine Kehl-Baierle, Das Fendi-Atelier, in: Exh. Cat. Albertina Peter Fendi und sein Kreis, 2007, pp. 34-50.) (B. Hagerty)