Georg Anton Urlaub

Beginning in 1735 he was working at the Würzburg Residence under Prince Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn, probably as an assistant and student of the court painter Johann Rudolf Byss.

In 1739 he wrote to his patron complaining about the relative lack of professors for the large number of students, and asking for funds to study under the Italian painter Federico Bencovich;[2] in February 1740 he again asked for more money, saying he wanted to hire one of the empty rooms in the Palais Schönborn on Laudongasse, and in March the prince bishop gave instructions for him to receive what he needed, but to spend the summer copying two large pictures for him.

However, he chafed at having to execute reverse glass painting for the Residence that had been designed by the court sculptor, Johann Wolfgang van der Auwera, rather than perfecting his skills.

[1] In January 1747 "Giovanni Antonio Urlao di Franconia" won the prizes for the first classes in figure drawing and sculpture, among the highest distinctions awarded at the institution.

[2] In 1749 Urlaub was in Venice, the then centre of modern Italian painting, where his notebooks show that he studied work by both Giambattista Tiepolo and the Guardis.

He was the first local artist to receive such prestige commissions in the city,[1] and in 1860, in the first history of art in Würzburg, Andreas Niedermayer called him and his brothers some of the best painters who worked there.

[2] When Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim became prince bishop, he gave Urlaub a position as Cabinets Inspector, with the title of Cammerdiener (chamber attendant), but did not pay him highly.