Carl Joseph Begas

He was the third child of Franz Anton Begasse (1764–1842), a judge, and his wife, Susanne née Hoffstadt.

In 1802, they moved to Cologne, where he received his first artistic training from the miniaturist, Franz Katz [de].

While there, shortly after the Battle of Paris, his talent was noticed by King Friedrich Wilhelm III, who bought one of his works and became his patron.

Around 1828, he came under the influence of the Düsseldorfer Malerschule and began to create works with historical and literary references, but always went back to portrait painting, largely for economic reasons.

When the civilian order, Pour le Mérite, was established in 1843, he was commissioned to paint portraits of the medals' recipients, including the sculptors, Christian Daniel Rauch and Johann Gottfried Schadow, the philologist, Jakob Grimm, and the naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt.