Johann Jakob
Kirchner

Probably inspired by his childhood friendAdam Klein, he studied at the Vienna Art Academy under Josef Anton Koch from 1812-14; his simultaneous acquaintance with the brothers Ferdinand and Heinrich Olivier and Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld had a more lasting influence on his artistic style than the Academy.(...)

In 1817 he settled in Nuremberg and began to live and work according to the romantic ideals he had absorbed in Vienna. In the sober and objective Nuremberg art life he remained a misunderstood loner.(...)

His works met with little approval in Nuremberg, so that he became lonely and fell into depression, whereby the death of his son on 17.4.1827 meant an additional mental burden. In 1821 at the art congress and in 1828 at the Dürer celebrations he made a somewhat stronger appearance.(...)

Today he is regarded as one of the leading Nuremberg artists of the Goethe period.(...)

quoted from the Nuremberg Künstlerlexikon,

Published by Manfred G. Grieb