1763 Franz Anton Zeiller Schlingen Chorfresko

1753 Franz Anton Zeiller Sachsenried Deckenfresko

Franz Anton Zeiller (3 May 1716,

Reutte Reutte (; Swabian: ) is a town in the Austrian state of Tyrol. It is the administrative center of the Reutte district (''Districts of Austria''). Reutte is located on the Lech, and has a population of 6,704 (as of 2018). Neighbouring municipal ...

- 4 March 1794, Reutte) was an Austrian painter, in the

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

style.

Biography

He lost his parents at a very early age. The painter,

Paul Zeiller Paul Zeiller (21 August 1658 in Reutte – 19 August 1738 in Reutte) was an Austrian painter in the Baroque#Painting, Baroque style. From 1692, he had a workshop in Reutte that later became an art school. His son, Johann Jakob Zeiller and adopted ...

, who already had ten children of his own, adopted him into his family. He recognized Franz's talent almost immediately, and began giving him lessons. After 1728, Balthasar Riepp, who had married one of Zeiller's daughters, also began working in his studio and provided Franz with lessons in

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

painting. Franz remained there until Zeiller's death in 1738, then left Reutte. His travels initially took him to

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, where he came under the stylistic influence of

Johann Evangelist Holzer Johann Evangelist Holzer (December 24, 1709 – July 21, 1740) was an Austrian-German painter. Holzer was born in Burgeis, Mals, in the Vinschgau Valley of South Tyrol, as the son of a miller. He was sent to undertake a classical course of ...

; working as his assistant on a church painting project. Following Holzer's death in 1740, aged only thirty-one, he began working for

Gottfried Bernhard Göz Gottfried Bernhard Göz, also Goez, Goetz or Götz (baptized 10 August 1708, Welehrad - 23 November 1774, Augsburg), was a German Rococo painter and engraver. Life His father was a locksmith at the Cistercian monastery in Welehrad. In 1718, ...

, who was also an engraver. He stayed with Göz for two years, then took some money he had saved and set off for Italy. He was in Rome from 1742 to 1744 then, following a brief visit to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, lived in Venice from 1744 to 1749. While in Rome, he worked with

Corrado Giaquinto Corrado Giaquinto (8 February 1703 – 18 April 1766) was an Italian Rococo painter. Early training and move to Rome He was born in Molfetta. As a boy he apprenticed with a modest local painter Saverio Porta, (c. 1667–1725), escaping the r ...

and copied some of the

Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

. His personal notes of his time there have been preserved. He also copied works in Venice, and was especially impressed by

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

. After returning home, he again worked for Göz; assisting him with a ceiling fresco at the . Later, he became involved in creating a large cycle of paintings at

Kaisheim Abbey The Imperial Abbey of Kaisersheim (German:''Reichsstift Kaisersheim'' or ''Kloster Kaisersheim''), was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery in Kaisersheim (now Kaisheim), Bavaria, Germany. As one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Ho ...

.Josef Mair: ''Genie im Schatten, Der Maler Balthasar Riepp (1703-1764)'', Reutte 2003, His first personal commission came in 1752, from

St. Mang's Abbey, Füssen St. Mang's Abbey, Füssen or Füssen Abbey () was a Order of St. Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Füssen in Bavaria, Germany. It was founded in the 9th century, and dissolved during the post-Napoleonic German mediatisation, secularisation of Ba ...

, where the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

, Gallus Zeiller, was a distant relative. After painting the chapel there, he was awarded a commission to execute frescoes and an altar painting at the parish church of St. Martin, in

Schwabsoien Schwabsoien is a municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and th ...

, which was associated with the Abbey. He then worked with

Johann Jakob Zeiller Johann Jakob Zeiller (8 July 1708 – 8 July 1783) was an Austrian painter. Zeiller was born in Reutte, trained by his father Paul Zeiller, Paul who was also a painter. In 1723 he began his apprenticeship with Sebastiano Conca in Rome, and then ...

, Paul's son, at

Ottobeuren Abbey Ottobeuren is a Benedictine abbey, located in Ottobeuren, near Memmingen in the Bavarian Allgäu, Germany. For part of its history Ottobeuren Abbey was one of the approximately 40 self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire and, as such ...

. This was followed by a long series of projects, throughout

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat of the district gove ...

and the

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

. In 1768, the completion of some major works in

Brixen Brixen (; , ; or , ) is a town and communes of Italy, commune in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography Brixen is the third-largest city and oldest town in the province, with a population of nearly twenty-three t ...

led to his appointment as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

there. He held that position until 1783, when Johann Jakob died, and he returned to Reutte to complete some of his commissions that had been left unfinished. When that was accomplished, he remained there with his adoptive family and continued to be active, creating small works, and one large fresco for the choir at a church in Grän. He died there in 1794, from an attack of "

dropsy Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...

". He had never married and lived a modest life, thereby accumulating a considerable fortune.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeiller, Franz Anton 1716 births 1794 deaths Austrian painters Fresco painters Religious artists People from Reutte District

Biography

References

Further reading

External links