He was the son of the gold- and silversmith Franz Amerling and Theresia Kargl. He studied from 1815 to 1824 at the academy of the arts in Vienna, before journeying to Prague where he studied at the Academy until 1826. He spent 1827 and 1828 in London, where he was influenced by the portrait painter Thomas Lawrence. Further journeys led him to Paris, where he studied with Horace Vernet, and Rome; he then returned to Vienna, where after 1828 he worked for the Austrian court, the aristocracy and middle class. He received the Reichel prize of the academy in Vienna in 1829.