Josef Klieber

In 1785, he began attending the drawing school in Innsbruck then, in 1792, went to Vienna with his father, hoping to find an apprenticeship.

After a period of living in poverty, he was on the verge of enlisting in the army, when his father called him home to help with a project.

Taking the money he earned there, he went back to Vienna and was able to obtain an apprenticeship with the sculptor, Jacob Schroth [de].

By 1810, he was working for Prince Johann I Joseph, for whom he produced a large number of sculptures, suitable for adorning his buildings in and around Vienna.

As a result, he was appointed to the Privy Council and, in 1814, provisional Director of the engraving and metal cutting school at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Joseph Klieber; etching by Franz Xaver Stöber (1837)