Balthasar Wigand
Austrian, 1771-1846
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Balthasar Wigand was an Austrian painter who rose to prominence mainly due to his intricately detailed miniature artworks.
Wigand was born in 1770 as the son of a Viennese coffee roaster. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts, he concentrated on the genre of miniature painting which he perfected over time. Specialised in small formats, his works focused mainly on the depiction of political events (such as processions) in the Napoleonic era, as well as on shaded city vedutas and landscape sceneries of his home region. Moreover, his watercolours and gouaches were highly popular, and the artist was never short of new commissions. Wigand opened a workshop to meet the rising demand, where everyday objects such as sewing caskets, were decorated with his miniature paintings. Although a celebrated figure among collectors, his artistic work temporarily slipped into obscurity after his death in 1846.
