Among his famous subjects were Friedrich Schiller, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Heinrich von Kleist, Frederick the Great, Friederike Sophie Seyler, Johann Gottfried Herder, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Moses Mendelssohn and Christian Felix Weiße.

[1] In 1753, Graff started studying painting at the art school of Johann Ulrich Schellenberg, in Winterthur.

[2] With a letter of recommendation from Johann Jakob Haid, he moved to Ansbach where he found employment with the court painter Leonhard Schneider until 1759.

It was there he received an invitation from Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn, the newly appointed Director of the recently established Dresden Art Academy, to apply for a post.

It arrived on 16 January 1766, in Dresden and was so well received, that only one day later Hagedorn worked out Graff's employment contract.

[1] On 7 April 1766, Graff arrived in Dresden, where he was appointed court painter and teacher for portrait painting at the academy.

On 7 May 1789, Graff informed Count Camillo Marcolini, general director of the Dresden Art Academy, about this.

Graff was the main portrait painter of German poets between the Enlightenment and early Romantic periods.

[citation needed] His role model in this context was Ján Kupecký whose works he studied in the collections of Ansbach.

[7] In 1765/66 Graff portrayed Elisabeth Sulzer in a blue silk dress with silver laces and fur collar and borders.

That it was not always easy for Graff to portrait the famous shows the remark he made while painting Friedrich Schiller: "He cannot sit still.

In September 1771, Graff travelled to Berlin and portrayed Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in Johann Georg Sulzer's apartment.

"[10] In Berlin Graff also portrayed Moses Mendelssohn and Johann Georg Sulzer, his future father-in-law.

[citation needed] Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich were influenced by his work.

He left his two surviving children, Caroline Susanne (she married the painter Karl Ludwig Kaaz, a pupil of Graff) and Carl Anton (he became a landscapist), a fortune of 40,000 Thaler.

In honour of their famous citizen the Berufsbildungsschule Winterthur (BBW) (School for Vocational Training) named their building after Graff.

2013 Jubilee exhibitions took place in the Museum Oskar Reinhart, Winterthur, and in the Old National Gallery in Berlin.