Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Bauerle was a painter who achieved international fame as a portrait painter at German courts and later at the British court of Queen Victoria.
Born in Endersbach in the Rems Valley/Kingdom ofWürttemberg, Karl Bauerle emigrated with his parents by sailing ship to the United States of America in 1836 at the age of five, where his parents then lived as farmers. There, the talented boy learned the trade of copper engraver from his uncle in Cincinnati.
He was able to train as a portrait and genre painter thanks to a scholarship from King Wilhelm I of Württemberg.
He worked as a portrait painter for the Princes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, who recommended him to their royal relatives. He was called to Great Britain by Albert Edward Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1841-1910; known as "Bertie"), Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, to paint portraits of the royal family. Portraits of children in particular are Bauerle's trademark. Several portraits of princes and families from the British court at that time can be seen in the museum at Sandringham House. He lived with his family in London from 1870, where his first wife, Amalie Irion, died after just six months, giving birth to their fifth child.
In 1872 and 1873, the family stayed temporarily in Stuttgart and then in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, where his young son, born in London, died of scarlet fever. In the spring of 1873, Karl Bauerle married his second wife, Mathilde, née Erhardt, and moved with the family to London for good. He became a British citizen in 1876. "The number of three surviving siblings from his first marriage increased over time by five more ... two siblings each (from the first and second marriage) died at a tender age." (From the curriculum vitae of Wilhelm Konrad Bauerle, 3rd son from 1st marriage, born 1867, pastor in Württemberg).
From June 1, 1900, he lived with his son (Karl) Theodor Bauerle for several years each summer in Hülben in the "Villa", the former studio building of Carl (Theodor) Bubeck, which had been inherited by the Pietist schoolmaster Johannes Kullen. He painted several portraits of this teacher. In nearby Urach (Württemberg), today Bad Urach, he worked with his son Theodor in 1900/1901 on the decoration of the Amandus Church, named after St. Amandus of Maastricht, in the neo-Gothic "Dolmetsch style".
Three children followed in their father's footsteps and became artists: Karl Theodor Bauerle from the first marriage became a church painter and often worked closely with his father on large murals. Amalie Bauerle from the second marriage became well known as an Art Nouveau children's book illustrator and Martha Bauerle also as a book and calendar illustrator.
