Johann Evangelist Holzer

Holzer was born in Burgeis, Mals, in the Vinschgau Valley of South Tyrol, as the son of a miller.

At the age of 18 he painted the altarpiece of the Marienberg Abbey church, depicting Saint Joseph as patron of the afflicted, ill, and dying.

He then went to Straubing, where he learned under Joseph Anton Merz how to paint frescos, which would become the main source of his later fame.

His services were particularly in demand in Augsburg for painting frescos for public buildings and on the exteriors of houses, though few of these now survive.

At the time of his death Holzer had been commissioned by Clemens August of Bavaria to paint frescos in the Hofkirche of Clemenswerth, but he died in 1740 before his arrival there.