Hieronymus Hess

[2] His father was Johannes Hess, an immigrant to Basel from Maisprach, and his mother Margaretha Roth.

His interest for drawing and painting was soon discovered, but as he grew up in a working-class family and a safe income was more important that art, he began as an apprentice at a house painters workshop.

[2] He was an often seen visitor of the public art collection in the House zur Mücke [de] whose guardian he often portrayed in his caricatures.

[6] In Rome, where his stay was supported by the Association for the Good and the Charitable (GGG) and the Freemasons from Basel,[6] he further developed his paintings style through the works of the landscape painter Josef Anton Koch[7] and the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.

[9] He returned to Basel in 1826[1] where he entered into the services of the art merchant Johann Rudolf Brenner.