Johann Gottlieb Prestel

Johann Gottlieb Prestel or Johann Amadeus Prestel (18 November 17395 October 1808) was a German painter, draftsman, and engraver, who was considered a master of copperplate engraving.

Early life and education Johann Gottlieb Prestel was born 18 November 1739 in Grönenbach in the Princely Abbey of Kempten, Swabia (now part of Bavaria, Germany). He had a brother named Johann Gotthard Prestel, a carpenter and reverse glass painter.

Growing up in the Swabian village, Prestel and his brother initially learned carpentry from his father. The profession required him to frequently make coffins for the surrounding villages, which the two learned to paint as young boys. An epidemic delayed his decision to leave home. Prestel used the opportunity to earn money by continuing to paint coffins when others refused out of fear of infection. When he first arrived, he began to replicate an altarpiece that he discovered in a church when a man knelt nearby to pray then gestured him to follow as Prestel didn't speak Italian. Upon following the man, Prestel discovered that the stranger he was with was Giuseppe Nogari, who created the original altar painting he had copied. His first son, Christian, arrived on 12 August 1773, with Adam, his second, following on 25 January 1775. His first work was a self-portrait, painted in the grand Italian style in Schaffhausen. Prestel experimented with the burin and inking, starting with outlines before progressing to red pencil and ink styles.

Maria Katharina, his wife, trained under Prestel, and the couple collaborated on various prints in etching, aquatint, and in the crayon manner (known as Stipple engraving). Using aquatint, he reproduced drawings from the collection of Paul von Praun, a well-known collector of old master drawings, in 1776. One of these includes The Sleeping Child (1519) which was reproduced in engraving. More than 600 sheets are reported to have come from his workshop, in which his children were also participants. His daughter Ursula Magdalena was born on 27 November 1777. Prestel's third son, Michael Gottlieb was born on 12 July 1779. He was also joined by Johann Georg Reinheimer from Frankfurt and his daughter Ursula Magdalena who returned to her father in Frankfurt after her mother's death in 1794.

Works Individual works Jean Théophile Prestel Seated at His Easel (Painted by himself, engraved in dotted etching) Holy Family (Etching after Alb. Dürer, 1519) Descent from the Cross (Engraved in chiaroscuro after a drawing by Raphael) A Mother of Sorrow (Virgin with the Body of Jesus) (After Van Dyck, engraved in pencil style) A Woman in a Forest (St. Therese) (Engraved in wash style after F. X. Wiser) St. Peter Consecrating the Deacon of St. Stephen as a Priest (Engraved in colorful style after an Italian master) Collaborative works View of the Strahlenberger Hof (After Ch. G. Schutz, 1784) The Bridge (After a landscape by Dietrich) Landscapes with Cattle (Morning) (After Henri Roos) Four Views of Heidelberg Castle (Published by Schlicht in Mannheim) Tempio del Pace (After Du Cros) Ruins of the Temple of the Sun in Palmira (Traced and engraved after Moretti) The Great Roman Bath in Apulia (Traced and engraved after Moretti) The Adulterous Woman (After Pietro da Cortona) Landscapes with a Large Rock (After Wagner) The South View of a Forest with Sheepfolds (Traced and engraved from the Count of Stadion's Cabinet, Mainz) Le Soir (Mountainous Landscape) (Traced and engraved) View of the Rhine near Basel (After Fr. Schütz) View of Untersee in the Canton of Bern (After Fr. Schütz) Large Mountainous Landscape with a Waterfall (Painted by Ald. van Everdingen) Ruinen des Poseidontempels in Paestum (after Alessandro Moretti) Collections Drawings from the Cabinet of Paul Braun (Nuremberg). (Published in 1780); Large folio (48 sheets). Drawings from the Cabinet of Gérard Joachim Schmidt (Hamburg).(Published in 1779); Large folio (30 sheets) including works from other cabinets, such as the Prince of Ligne in Brussels. Drawings from Various Famous Cabinets (Published in 1782)

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