William Unger, or Wilhelm Unger (11 September 1837,

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

– 5 March 1932,

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

) was a German

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

and engraver.

Biography

His father was the

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and art historian, . While he was still a toddler, his family moved to

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. Both he and his older sister, displayed artistic talent at an early age. Her interests turned to painting, while he became more involved with etching. Beginning in 1854, he studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf with the engraver, then, in 1858, transferred to the

Academy of Fine Arts Munich The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (german: Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, ...

, where he studied with , who specialized in

copper engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...

. He returned to Göttingen in 1859. The following year, his father agreed to finance more studies in Düsseldorf. The next three years proved to be disappointing and difficult. An apprentice with the engraver, did not turn out as planned. It became harder to work, and he felt that he was a burden on his father. Eventually, he became ill. After a few weeks of recuperation, he returned home to help take care of Johanna, who was also ill. When his depression lifted, he began travelling; to

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. He finally went to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, seeking work with one of the publishers there. He found employment with E. A. Seemann in 1866, providing illustrations for their ''Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst'' (Journal of Fine Art). He was engaged in this work for several years. He also published books with reproductions of famous paintings. He married in 1870 and was appointed a Professor at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Art School, Weimar, in 1871. He spent most of his summers from 1871 to 1877 visiting art galleries in the Netherlands. Later, he settled in Vienna, where he took over management of the

University of Applied Arts A university of applied sciences (UAS), nowadays much less commonly called a polytechnic university or vocational university, is an institution of higher education and sometimes research that provides vocational education and grants academic de ...

in 1881. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1884, and was named a Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, in 1894. His students included ,

Rudolf Jettmar Rudolf Jettmar (10 September 1869, Tarnów — 21 April 1939, Vienna) was an Austrian painter and printmaker. The largest collection of the work of Rudolf Jettmar in the United States is held by the Jack Daulton Collection in Los Altos Hills, ...

, Oswald Roux and Ferdinand Schmutzer. Following his retirement in 1908, he spent most of his time creating drawings and watercolors. His wife died in 1919, and he went to live with his daughter, Else, in Innsbruck. In 1928 his autobiography, ''Aus meinem Leben'' (From my Life), was published by the Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst.

Selected works

File:Eve shows Adam the apple she has bitten. Etching by W. Unger Wellcome V0034193.jpg, Eve Showing Adam
the Apple File:An itinerant medicine vendor performing on stage with severa Wellcome V0016156.jpg, An Itinerant Medicine Vendor in Rome File:A young man seated, holding a book and a pair of dividers, t Wellcome V0025328.jpg, The Three Philosophers, after Giorgione File:William Unger Portrait Franz Joseph.jpg,

Emperor Franz Joseph Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

Sources

Biography of Unger
@ Ober St.Veit
''Unger, William''
In: Friedrich von Boetticher: ''Malerwerke des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte''. Dresden 1898, Vol.2, pg.909 *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unger, William 1837 births 1932 deaths German etchers German engravers Kunstakademie Düsseldorf alumni Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna German emigrants to Austria-Hungary Artists from Hanover