Heinrich Carl Brandt

[1] There is no reliable information about his family, although the landscape painter, Christian Hilfgott Brand, is generally believed to have been his father.

He then learned portrait painting in the master class of Martin van Meytens, who was the court painter for Empress Maria Theresa.

While there, he visited the art galleries at Mannheim Palace and was so impressed by the works in their collection, he decided to move there to study them.

[1] Five years later, when the private Mannheimer Zeichnungsakademie [de] became a state institution, he was named its first Professor and Secretary.

He followed, three years later, but his situation failed to improve, due to the higher cost of living there, and a drinking problem, which sometimes left him unable to work.