To look people in the face is the portraitist's destiny. What appears on the canvas is more or less similar and does not always reveal the essence of the person portrayed. Anton Graff with his attentive eye and his artistic talent, however, many prominent contemporaries rightly entrusted their portraits to him.
Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, as the son of a tin caster, the talented boy was predestined for a profession in the crafts, but only marginally as an artist. However, he was able to develop his skills at the local drawing school of Johann Ulrich Schellenberg before he moved to the engraver Johann Jakob Haid in Augsburg in 1756. One year later he joined the portrait and court painter Leonhard Schneider. The copying of portraits, which was common practice at the time, led him to make representations of Frederick the Great. In 1759 he left Schneider's workshop and turned again to Johann Jakob Haid. The spirit of the Enlightenment reached him at the latest when he visited the Swiss theologians and philosophers Johann Georg Sulzer and Johann Kaspar Lavater in the company of the painter Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1764. The encounter seems to have had a not inconsiderable influence on him. As a renowned portraitist, he was appointed court painter of the Electorate of Saxony in 1766 and in the same year followed an appointment to the Dresden Academy of Art. From then on, his place of work was Dresden, which he left only occasionally.
Many well-known portraits of the painter shed light on the significance of people and the spirit of the times. Apart from views of Frederick the Great and Frederick William II, the artist placed all kinds of important public figures on canvas or drawing paper. Among them are intellectual greats and literary figures such as Lessing, Herder and Schiller. However, in contrast to the preceding epochs of the Baroque and early Rococo, he portrayed representatives of both the nobility and the bourgeoisie. The spirit of the Enlightenment is reflected here in the names and character of the persons depicted, but also in the artist's clear painterly rendering. The pictures precisely show details of clothing and sometimes accessories as symbols of status. And yet the expression of the faces is not rigid, the portraits are not impersonal. They always lead us to suspect the character of the individual. In terms of colour, most pictures appear rather restrained. However, the movement of the body or a special facial expression, often surprisingly emotional for a representative portrait, makes them appear moved and lively.
Although the persons depicted are in an undefined space, the versatile artist later turned to this aspect in some of his works. Around 1800, some landscape paintings from the Dresden area show a completely different expression: they show a tendency towards Romanticism. Thematically they are not far from motifs Caspar David Friedrichs and Philipp Otto Runges and offered them artistic orientation. Painterly, however, the first signs of an impressionistic mode of representation can be seen.
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1519169).jpg "Friedrich II of Prussia")
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.jpg "Frederick the Great by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Friedrich Schiller by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Heinrich XIV Reuss of Greiz, elder line by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Johanna Henriette Louise Countess of Bestucheff-Rumin, née von Carlowitz (1717-1787) (?) by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1711873).jpg "Johann Joachim Spalding (1714-1804), Senior Consistorial Councillor of Berlin by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1753256).jpg "Houses by the River (Houses on the Weißeritz in the Plauen Valley near Dresden) by Anton Graff")
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_w_szlafroku_-_(MeisterDrucke-1741876).jpg "Portrait of Johann Nepomuk Schaffgotsch (1713-1775) in a dressing gown by Anton Graff")
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_Um_1800_1801_-_(MeisterDrucke-1711379).jpg "Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726-1801). Around 1800/1801 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Johann N. Schaffgotsch in Military Uniform by Anton Graff")
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 1801 - (MeisterDrucke-100403).jpg "The Daughter: Portrait of Caroline Susanne Graff (b. 1781), 1801 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Lady in profile to the left, in an oval by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of an Old Woman, 1780 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Countess Zofia Potocka-Witt 1760-1822. by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-569448).jpg "Portrait of F.J.L. Meyer (1760-1844) by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1713064).jpg "Friedrich Ludolf Hansen (1738-1803) by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Saint Mary Magdalen by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "The Physician and Philosopher Johann Georg, Knight von Zimmermann by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Writer Elisa von der Recke by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Provost Johann Joachim Spalding in a Dressing Gown by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Baroness Elise von der Recke, Imperial Countess von Meden by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Bust Portrait of a Beardless Middle-Aged Man, Turned Half Right, Looking out at the Viewer by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Georg Friedrich von Martens by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1659794).jpg "Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German Poet by Anton Graff")
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_(1749-1799)_-_(MeisterDrucke-1570600).jpg "Heinrich XIV. Reuss Elder Line (1749-1799) by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Dorothea Friederike Schlegel 1764-1839, née Brendel Mendelssohn, c.1790 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Mrs von Martens by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1723265).jpg "Portrait of the Actress Marie Magdalene Charlotte Ackermann (1757-1775) by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1561004).jpg "Portrait of Karl Wilhelm Ramler (1725-1798) by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Actor Christian Wilhelm Opitz by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "The Electoral Saxon War Councillor Johann Gottlieb von Leyser (c. 1698-1780) by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Johann Georg Sulzer by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Georg Sachs by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Frederick Augustus, Duke of Warsaw by Anton Graff")
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 She presided over o - (MeisterDrucke-676775).jpg "Portrait of Henriette Herz (née de Lemos). She Presided Over One of the Most Celebrated Literary Salons in Berlin by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1663382).jpg "Christian Fuerchtegott Gellert, German poet and philosopher by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of the poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Frederick II the Great of Prussia, 1764 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of a smiling man, head turned halfway to the right, looking out at the viewer by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Johanna Isabella von Broizem by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Henriette Herz by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Poet Karl Wilhelm Ramler by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of the actor Conrad Ekhof by Anton Graff")
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 engraved by Johann Friedrich Bause (1738-1814) 1772 - (MeisterDrucke-100895).jpg "Portrait of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81) engraved by Johann Friedrich Bause (1738-1814) by Anton Graff")
 engraved by Johann Friedrich Bause (1738-1814) 1772 - (MeisterDrucke-100895).jpg)
.jpg "Portrait of the actor Conrad Ekhof, ca 1774 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Wilhelmine Henry, known as Minette by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "The Portrait and History Painter Carl Friedrich Demiani by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Prince Karl August of Saxony with his wife Sophie and daughter by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Johann Georg Sulzer by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Conrad Ekhof, 1774 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait with Eye Shade by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of the Mayor of Bautzen, Gottlob August Hering by Anton Graff")
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_frere_de_Frederic_le_Grand_Peintu_-_(MeisterDrucke-1325082).jpg "Portrait of Prince Henry of Prussia, Brother of Frederick the Great by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Georg Jakob Decker by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Jerzy Fleming by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1663653).jpg "Moses Mendelssohn, German Philosopher by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-576896).jpg "Portrait of the Actress Friederike Seyler (1738-89) by Anton Graff")
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_1779_-_(MeisterDrucke-56354).jpg "Portrait of Prince Henry of Prussia, 1779 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Woman by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Prince Henry of Prussia by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, c.1771 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Dorothea Schlegel by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Adrian Ivanovich Divov by Anton Graff")
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_und_ihre_Tochter_Caroline_-_(MeisterDrucke-1715859).jpg "Elisabeth Sophia Augusta Graff, née Sulzer (1753-1812) and her daughter Caroline Susanne (1781-1828) by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Johann Joachim Spalding 1714-1804 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Juliane Wilhelmine Bause by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin by Anton Graff")
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_-_(MeisterDrucke-1128975).jpg "Johanna Amalie, Countess Senfft von Pilsach with her son Henry by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Henry XIV, Prince of Reuss by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Detmar Friedrich Wilhelm Basse by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Frederick the Great by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "The Painter Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "The Artist")
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.jpg "Head of a Lady, in Profile to the Right (Elisabetha Auguste Graff, née Sulzer, wife of Graff) by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Prince Karl of Saxony by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "The philosopher and writer Johann Jakob Engel by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Count Heinrich XIII Reuss by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Provost Johann Joachim Spalding in a Housecoat by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Elisabeth Sulzer by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, Duchess of York and Albany by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-Portrait by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Gertrud Elisabeth Mara by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Head of a Beardless Elderly Man by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-portrait in Old Age by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Elisabeth Sophie Auguste Graff by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Frederik Christian, Duke of Schleswig by Gerhard Ludvig Lahde")
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 King of Saxony - (MeisterDrucke-111020).jpg "Portrait of Frederick Augustus I (1750-1827), King of Saxony by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Konstancja Lubomirska Rzewuska, 1789 by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of a Lady by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Henriette von Carlowitz by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Frederick II of Prussia by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Portrait of Elisa von der Recke by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Self-portrait by Anton Graff")
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.jpg "Johann Christoph Friedrich Von Schiller, German Poet, Dramatist and Historian by Anton Graff")
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