Christian Hilfgott Brand was a German-Austrian painter.
Christian Hilfgott Brand was born in Frankfurt (Oder). He completed his training in Hamburg , where his father had moved with his business. After completing his training, he moved to Regensburg to live with his mother's relatives. He was supposed to take an office job, but already had contact with the painter Christoph Ludwig Agricola and discovered his love for painting. The Agricola, influenced by the painters Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin , produced outstanding atmospheric landscapes.

After Agricola's death in 1719, Brand went to Vienna, where he settled in 1720. During this time he lost his first wife Rosina. On April 24, 1725 he married Maria Magdalena Thorwild (died August 26, 1789).

Brand was talented, but also smart enough to surround himself with a group of artists. From 1726 to 1728 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Around 1735 he met the painters Franz Christoph Janneck (1703–1761), Karl Aigen (1684–1762) and Josef Orient (1677–1747) in Frankfurt am Main . Brand became famous and soon regarded as one of the best landscape painters of his time. The imperial court mentioned him in 1738 as a specialist in painting in the Dutch style. In 1740 he was commissioned with a series of pictures that were larger than usual.

He brought in his friend August Querfurt , who painted horses and people. The work, however, drained him. After six months he suffered a stroke that paralyzed him on one side. Brand changes from the right to the left hand and painted the picture Magnificat , which was famous at the time and which you can see no difference to his previous pictures. He remained court painter until the end of his life. In 1751 Brand was one of the first honorary members of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna . In 1754 he became an advisor to the academy. The ambassador of Sardinia loved his pictures. The Danish ambassador to Austria Christian August von Berkentin commissioned a view of Vienna in 1740. Other enthusiasts of his works included the Canon of Mainz and Trier and the Danish envoy in Vienna Joseph Franz von Kesselstatt , the Sardinian envoy in Vienna Ludwig von Canal and the art theorist Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn . His later work influenced his son from his second marriage Friedrich August Brand and his son from his first marriage Johann Christian Brand . Christian Hilfgott Brand died on July 22, 1756 in Vienna.