Early Life, Family and Training Ferdinand Bellermann enters the world in Erfurt on 14 March 1814. The stability of his early years is short-lived. His father, a tanner, dies prematurely, leaving the family to face sudden financial hardship. As the eldest child, the weight of responsibility shifts onto Ferdinand Bellermann. He leaves the domestic sphere for the pastures, taking a job herding sheep to help support his kin. Talent emerges from this period of labor. At fourteen, he moves from the fields to the classroom, enrolling in Weimar’s Prince Frederick Augustus School of Drawing and Scul…