Born in Berlin to a master cabinetmaker, Eduard Gaertner began his artistic career
with drawing lessons at the age of five in Cassel. He returned to Berlin after 1813
and studied painting at the Königliche Porzellanmanufaktur, where he stayed
until approximately 1821. Gaertner became an assistant in the studio of theatrical
scene painter Karl Wilhelm Gropius (1793–1870) and worked as a painter of
stage sets. He first exhibited at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Berlin. In
1824–25, he was commissioned to paint interior views of the Berlin Cathedral and
the chapel of the Schloss Charlottenburg. He spent three years in Paris, where he
studied under Jean-Victor Bertin (1767–1842), and later mounted an exhibition at
the Berlin Akademie of works he had completed there. This exhibition greatly increased his visibility, and King Wilhelm III of Prussia acquired several of his works. Under the patronage of the Prussian royal family, Gaertner launched a career as a painter of Berlin architecture and interiors, developing a specialty in topographic and panoramic views. (JGK)