Johann Joseph Schmeller

He was one of five children born to Johann Michael Schmeller (1773-1850), a forestry worker in Ettersburg, and his wife, Dorothea Eva Böhmel (1766–1814), from Buchfart.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, issued a call for the formation of a volunteer corps, and Schmeller joined.

In 1827, Duke Karl August had seen a painting by Albrecht Dürer (The Crucifixion of Christ) and was looking for an artist to make a copy.

After the publicity surrounding that project, Schmeller began to receive numerous portrait commissions from the Weimar bourgeoisie.

The Duke died in 1828, but a visit from the physician and painter, Carl Gustav Carus led to major commissions from the "Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte [de]" (Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors).