German painter, draughtsman and etcher. Trained by Johann Georg Dathan (1703-c. 1748) in Speyer, he was a court painter in Mannheim from 1733 until his death, from 1755 gallery director and from 1757 a privy councilor. Of the religious works that, as a court painter, he was obliged to produce, the only ones that survive are frescoes (spandrel paintings) depicting the Four Quarters of the World (after 1748; Mannheim, former Jesuit church of SS Ignaz und Franz Xavier) and ceiling paintings in Electress Elizabeth Augusta's library in Schloss Mannheim. His favourite subjects were landscapes, but he also painted historical subjects and portraits; in some of the latter he imitated the force and colouring of Rembrandt. He etched some plates in a picturesque and spirited style. //