(Joh. Martin) Friedrich
Geißler (Pariser Geißler)

He created Nuremberg views, most of the time according to the templates of others.

Son of Georg Friedrich, basket maker in Betzenstein, father of Christian, engraver. ∞ Maria Barbara (* around 1779 - † 15.5.1839), daughter of Johann Leonhard Schmidt, master glazier. Pupil of Gustav Philipp Zwinger and Heinrich Guttenberg. An early portrait engraving of Friedrich Wilhelm Fürer von Haimendorf, dat. 1803. 1803-14 stay in Paris through the support of Johann Friedrich Frauenholz, where he represented the business interests of his friend and art dealer. In Paris he worked in the studio of Desnoyers. In 1814 he returned to Nuremberg and in August 1816 received a trade license as an engraver. After 1832, under the influence of Friedrich Fleischmann, he switched to steel engraving. His works included architectural and landscape depictions, as well as reproductions after paintings by old Dutch, French and Italian artists for domestic and foreign publications. He was counted by art critics as one of the most excellent engravers in Germany in the field of landscapes, "which he has sufficiently attested by his works for the French museum". He also created a large number of views of Nuremberg, partly from his own designs, but mostly from others.

In 1819 he lived at p. 551 (Theresienstraße 6/8), in 1839 at p. 638 (Untere Söldnersgasse 3). He was the owner of the house S. 658 (Schildgasse 13), where he lived until his death. His extensive graphic collection was auctioned in Leipzig on 29.10.1855 and the following days; the catalog included 1502 items.

Works: View of Nuremberg on the so-called. Freyung at the entrance to the old Imperial Castle. Drawn by Georg Wilder, painted by Friedrich Geißler. Published by J. A. Stein in Nuremberg. Transverse fol., discussed in Schornschen Kunstblatt 1845, p. 404.

 MuS: NÜRNBERG, GNM: -, MStN: drawings, etchings, steel engravings, copper engravings, copper plates.

Lit.: AKL; Thieme-Becker; Bénézit; Müller-Singer; C. G. Müller, 1791 cont. II, pp. 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23; Stadtlexikon 2000.

Issued: 1817/1; 1821/1; 1824/1; 1827/1; 1830/1; 1833/1; 1836/1; 1838/1; 1877/1; 1941/2; 1942/1; 1955/4; 1972/5 no. 118; 1973/2; 1989/3; 1992/1.

(quoted from the Nuremberg Künstlerlexikon, edited by Manfred H. Grieb)