Ludwig Gruner

Born in Dresden,[2] he initially wanted to become a decorative painter, a plan scotched in the mid-1840s by an eye problem.

[3] He began his studies in 1815 under Klinger before enrolling at the Dresden Academy under Ephraim Gottlieb Krüger.

He returned to England in 1842 to make drawings from the Raphael Cartoons and found favour with Albert, Prince Consort and Queen Victoria.

[7] He worked for Albert from 1841 to 1855 and was appointed Victoria's art advisor and dealer in 1845, helping acquire around sixty paintings and sculptures for the Royal Collection and leading on the decoration of Osborne House and Buckingham Palace.

From 1845 to 1848 he lived in Rome again before being appointed director of the Kupferstich-Kabinett in Dresden on 2 July 1858, also receiving a professorship at the academy there (Ernst Mohn was one of his students) and becoming a member of the gallery commission.