Johann Scheffer von Leonhardshoff

[1] He belonged to a noble but poor family that originally came from Fulda and was barely more than a child when he began studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, under Hubert Maurer.

[citation needed] He came under the influence of the Nazarene movement, however, and moved away from the Academic painting style.

In 1812, he took a trip to Venice to visit his sister, then went on to Ferrara, which is the place where he may have contracted the tuberculosis that would cause his early death.

When he returned from Italy, he settled in Klagenfurt, where the Prince-bishop of Gurk, Franz Xaver Salm-Reifferscheid [de], became his patron and appointed him Court Painter.

Back in Vienna he was rejected by his long-time love, Caecilia Bontzak, who felt ignored, and his illness worsened rapidly.