WEISS, Bartholomeus Ignaz - b. ~1740 München, d. 1814 München

German painter, etcher, and miniaturist. After an early training by his father, Franz Joseph Weiss (1735-1790), as a porcelain painter, Bartholomaus Ignaz Weiss worked for five years between 1764 and 1769 at the Nymphenburg factory. In 1769 he was awarded a scholarship to further his studies in the Schleissheim galleries and in 1771 he became a student of Franz Ignazius Oefele (1721-1797) at the newly founded Drawing School in Munich, which later became the Munich Academy. One of the founders of the Drawing School was Thomas Christian Winck (1738-1797).

Weiss was later to become the Bavarian court miniaturist, as well as a distinguished engraver and etcher.

Portrait of George de Marées

The sitter of this signed and dated portrait is George de Mar�es (1697-1776), a Swedish painter active in Germany. He is depicted at his easel, painting a portrait of Johann Christian Thomas Winck (1738-1797), a court painter in Bavaria.

The portrait may well have been done as a student exercise or as a homage paid by one relatively young artist to two of the leading artistic figures at the Bavarian Court.