Friedrich Müller, German poet, dramatist and painter from the Electoral Palatinate, is best known for his slightly sentimental prose idylls on country life. Usually known as Maler Müller (i.e. Painter Müller).

Müller was born in Kreuznach. He showed a talent for art in his youth, and studied painting at Zweibrücken, where his personality and varied endowments won him the favor of court circles. At 18, he published several collections of etchings which attracted much attention with their originality. In 1774-1775, he settled in Mannheim, where he soon acquired a reputation as a poet. In 1777 he was appointed court painter.

In 1778 he was enabled by a public subscription to visit Italy, which remained his home for the rest of his life. In 1780 he became a Roman Catholic. He was unfavourably influenced by the study of Italian models, and gradually became estranged from painting through failures and distress. He devoted himself instead to the study of the history of art. He became a sort of ambulant antiquary, and his services as cicerone were especially in demand among German visitors to Rome.