Born in Jena, he studied history, philosophy and theology at the University of Erlangen from 1817, followed by studies of philology and archaeology at the University of Heidelberg (from 1820).

In 1836 he was appointed professor of philology, antiquities and art history at the University of Freiburg.

After his death in Freiburg im Breisgau, a collection of his writings were published as Nachgelassene schriften (1853, 4 volumes; edited by Henriette Feuerbach and Hermann Hettner).

[2] He was the eldest son of legal scholar Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach and the father of painter Anselm Feuerbach.

His wife from his second marriage, Henriette Feuerbach, was the sister of physician Friedrich Wilhelm Heidenreich.