Johann Eleazar Zeissig

Johann Eleazar Zeissig, also known as Schenau (7 November 1737 – 23 August 1806), was a German genre, portrait and porcelain painter, and engraver; director of the Royal Academy of Arts in Dresden.

Schenau was born in 1737, the son of Elias Zeissig and Anna Elisabeth (née Paul), poor Damask weavers, of Großschönau, near Zittau in Saxony.

He showed an early talent for painting and drawing, and was sent away at the age of twelve to study art in Dresden, where he was also employed as a lawyer's clerk.

In 1756, after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, he accompanied the Sylvestre brothers to Paris, where he stayed until 1770, working at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with, amongst others, Johann Georg Wille.

Schenau copied the works of the old masters such as Antonio da Correggio, Guido Reni and Titian, and acquired the patronage of the Saxon ambassador, General Fontenay.

Through the influence of his mentor, Charles-François de Silvestre, or his wife, the teacher and confidante of the Dauphine Maria Josepha, Schenau was introduced to the French court; he received many commissions from the Crown Princess of France and was soon the most respected genre painter in Paris.

This important work of 1777 shows, in the foreground on the right, the Saxon statesman, Thomas Fritsch (1700-1775),[2] together with Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn,[3] art theorist and collector.