Anton Graff
Anton Graff (18 November 1736 – 22 June 1813) was a Swiss painter, of the period called Classicism. He mostly did portrait painting. He was among the most important painters of his time.
| Anton Graff | |
|---|---|
| |
| With the arrival of this self-portrait (1765) on January 16, 1766, in Dresden Graff’s carrier as one of the most famous portrait artists of the Neoclassicism began | |
| Born | 18 November 1736 Winterthur, Switzerland |
| Died | 22 June 1813 (aged 76) Dresden, Germany |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Field | Portrait Painting |
| Training | Johann Ulrich Schellenberg, Johann Jacob Haid, Leonhard Schneider |
| Movement | Neoclassicism |
| Works | Portrait of Frederick the Great (1781). His masterpiece |
| Patrons | Royal Courts of Prussia and Saxony |
| Awards | 1783: Honorary Member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1812: Honorary Member of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna and the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich |
Anton Graff Media
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1781). This portrait is regarded as Anton Graff's masterpiece. Contemporaries claimed it was the best and most accurate portrait of Frederick the Great. It is the most famous, most copied and most reproduced portrait of the King of Prussia.
Elisabeth Sulzer, née Reinhart (1765/66). Elisabeth Sulzer and Oskar Reinhart have common ancestors. Oskar Reinhart was a patron of the arts and an art collector. Among others he collected paintings by Anton Graff. Part of his vast collection is at the Museum Oskar Reinhart in Winterthur.
Portrait of the daughters of Johann Julius von Vieth und Golssenau (1713–1784) and his wife Johanna Juliane, née Krieg von Bellicken (painted around 1775). Von Vieth und Golssenau was a nobleman at the princely court of Saxony. This painting was sold at Christie's in London on 11 December 2002 as lot 75 in the auction 6652 "Old Master Pictures" for £111,150.
Friedrich Schiller. Anton Graff started the portrait in 1786. However, since Schiller could "not sit still" he only finished it in 1791. The painting was often copied. The original portrait can be seen at the "Kügelgenhaus – Museum der Dresdner Romantik" in Dresden.
Moses Mendelssohn (1771).
Self-portrait, Anton Graff and his family (1785). This painting is in the Museum Oskar Reinhart in Winterthur.
Elisa von der Recke (1797).
Johann Georg Sulzer (1774). Anton Graff's father-in-law.
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1771).
George Leopold Gogel (1796). This painting is at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
