1763 Franz Anton Zeiller Schlingen Chorfresko

1753 Franz Anton Zeiller Sachsenried Deckenfresko

Franz Anton Zeiller (3 May 1716,

Reutte Reutte (; Swabian: ) is a market 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 6704 (as of 2018). Neighbouring munic ...

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

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

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 style. From 1692, he had a workshop in Reutte that later became an art school. His son, Johann Jakob Zeiller and adopted son, Franz An ...

, 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 (plural ''frescos'' 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 plaste ...

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

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

, where he came under the stylistic influence of Johann Evangelist Holzer; 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, h ...

, 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 (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, 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, (c1667–1725), escaping the rel ...

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 Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

. 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 Cistercian monastery in Kaisersheim (now Kaisheim), Bavaria, Germany. As one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Emp ...

.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, where the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

, 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, 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 who was also a painter. In 1723 he began his apprenticeship with Sebastiano Conca in Rome, and then from 1729 ...

, 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 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire and, as such, was a vi ...

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

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts 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 o ...

and the

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

. In 1768, the completion of some major works in

Brixen Brixen (, ; it, Bressanone ; lld, Porsenù or ) is a town in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography First mentioned in 901, Brixen is the third largest city and oldest town in the province, and the artistic and ...

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 Grän is a municipality in the district of Reutte in the Austrian state of Tyrol. Geography Grän lies near Lake Haldensee in the Tannheim valley, a high mountain valley on the border with Bavaria. It lies on the road to Pfronten Pfronten ( S ...

. He died there in 1794, from an attack of "

dropsy Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels tight, the area ma ...

". 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