Born 1737 in Schweidnitz in Silesia, died 1823 in Bozen. He was first trained with his father, the portraitist Johann, but to avoid military service he soon fled from Prussia to Bohemia, where he worked for Angelo Garboni, a master of perspectival theatrical sets, for a considerable length of time.

Then he began a restless travelling life which led him to Vienna, Graz, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Trieste and Venice, where he earned his living above all as a painter of portrait miniatures. Finally he settled in Bozen/Bolzano, where he remained until his death, with the exception of a short sojourn with Giambettino Cignaroli and Felice Boscaratti in Verona.