Johann Julius Heinsius

Johann Julius Heinsius (7 February 1740, Hildburghausen - 19 May 1812, Orléans) was a German oil painter and miniaturist.

[1] Due to his connections to the Royal family (he had been named the “Peintre des Mesdames de France”, artist to the sisters of Louis XV) he was forced to leave France for some time during the French Revolution.

Despite his connections to the French Royalties and his foreign birth, he was eventually allowed to return to France to pick up his main practice as a portraitist.

In 1790 he moved to the city of Orléans about 130 kilometres south west of Paris, where he remained until this death.

Heinsius produced a great number of oil paintings, as well as miniatures and drawings in black chalk.