Joseph Karl Stieler

b. 1781

German painter. In 1798 he studied under Christoph Fesel (1737-1805) in Würzburg and in 1800 with Heinrich Füger in Vienna, where his style was strongly influenced by English portraiture. After he studied in Paris (1807-08) with François Gérard the influence of Neoclassicism became apparent in his work. He visited Italy in 1809, 1810 and 1812 to do commissioned portraits for various patrons, among them Prince Eugene de Beauharnais (1809; Munich, Bayerische Nationalmuseum) and Joachim Murat, King of Naples (reg 1808-15). In 1812 he went to Munich where he did work for middle-class clients, the nobility and the royal family of Bavaria (e.g. the portrait of Maximilian I Joseph, 1816; Ellingen, Schloss). In 1820 he was appointed court painter to Ludwig I, King of Bavaria (reg 1825-48), and painted several portraits of him. In 1823 he helped co-found the Kunstverein in Munich. [url href=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/s/stieler/biograph.html]wga[/url]