Ernst Meisel, born in 1838 in Lichte/Thuringia, Germany, was a German history painter who apprenticed as a porcelain painter before studying at the Academy of Arts in Munich under renowned artists Karl Theodor von Piloty and Alexander Wagner. He was active in Munich and his life and work are documented in sources such as Thieme-Becker, Matrikeln der Münchner Akademie, and Wikipedia.

Ernst Meisel began his training at the Schmidt'schen Malschule in Bamberg, where he learned the profession of porcelain painter. From 1865 he studied in the technical painting class of the Royal Academy of Arts in Munich with Alexander Wagner and Karl Theodor von Piloty.