Carl Ernst Christoph Hess

He was only thirteen when his father died, so he was apprenticed to a Schwertfeger [de] (a blacksmith who specializes in swords, daggers and other weapons) in Strasbourg.

A hunting scene he created on the handle of a Hirschfänger, a type of dagger, brought him to the attention of Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria.

As a result, he was able to attend the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf where his talents were noticed by its director, Lambert Krahe.

He went to Italy in 1787 and remained there for four years, studying his art in Naples and Rome, where he met Johann Wolfgang Goethe.

When the War of the First Coalition began to affect Düsseldorf, they moved about for several years, during which he worked with Francesco Bartolozzi in London.