Oskar Begas

[1] He took his first lessons from his father, the well-known painter Carl Joseph Begas, and began by doing portraits of his family.

He was soon collaborating on works with his father and, at the age of thirteen, received his first commission.

[1] He returned to Berlin after his father's death, completing an unfinished series of portraits depicting Knights who had received the Pour le Mérite.

[1] Afterwards, he received many of his own commissions from King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, producing portraits of Heinrich Friedrich Link, August Böckh, Johannes von Müller and Johann Lukas Schönlein, among others.

He also did some decorative work, including lunettes in the Rotes Rathaus and small murals in the ballroom of the Kaisergallerie (a sort of early shopping mall) on Unter den Linden.