Jakob Seydelmann

In Dresden, he studied with Giuseppe Canale and Giovanni Battista Casanova then, from 1772, in Rome with Anton Raphael Mengs.

In the late 1700s, he developed a process to extract and produce a concentrated form of sepia for use in watercolors and oil paints.

Well-known examples include depictions of the Sistine Madonna and Night, by Correggio, both from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, as were most of his reproductions.

He spent many years on a commission from Tsar Alexander I, copying paintings from Italian artists, in various styles, at their original size.

He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Zum Goldenen Apfel, and they were close friends of the painter Gerhard von Kügelgen and his family.