Friedrich-Heinrich Fuger (5 November 1751 - 8 December 1818), Austrian painter.
Portrait of Prince Yusupov
When he was just eight years old Fuger was already experimenting painting, mainly miniature portraits. In 1764 he enrolled at the Hohe Karlsschule in Stuttgart, where he took drawing lessons from Nicolas Guibal, who would later introduce Fuger to the arta of the Italian Renaissance. After seeing many historical paintings at local galleries, he decided he could never be a professional artist and left for Halle, to study Law.
Yet he continued to paint miniatures, and by 1771 these were very popular among collectors.
Impressed and glad of his success, Fuger decided to dedicate himself to art, so he moved to Leipzig, where he studied at Adam Friedrich Oeser's school, where he learned the principles and ideas of Classicism.
His miniature portraits, most of them painted on ivory, were more and more expensive, as the collectors and dealers demanded more and more. In Dresden the artist met the British ambasador, Sir Robert Murray Keith, who in 1774 took Fuger to Vienna and secured him several important commisions. Later, Fuger was even appointed director of the Academy in Vienna, a position in which he defended the principles of Classicism, refusing any new ideas and tendencies. He worked for a while in Hungary, where he taught and influenced several Hungarian young artists.
