Wilhelm Hecht

In 1885 he was called to Vienna to head the newly founded xylographic department of the k.u.k.

Hof- und Staatsdruckerei (Imperial and Royal State Printing Office).

At the same time, he was made professor for wood engraving at the School for Applied Arts (Kunstgewerbeschule), now the Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien (University of Applied Arts Vienna).

He was assigned by the Society for Reproducing Art (Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst) in Vienna to execute several woodcuts of paintings in the Schack Gallery in Munich, leading him to devote his talents to etching, which thereafter became the almost sole focus of his artistic production.

He completed etchings of works by Schwind, Böcklin, Lenbach, Rottmann, Schleich, van Dyck und Jan van Schorel – works of art in their own right - and produced two original etchings (Emperor Wilhelm I and King Ludwig of Bavaria in the regalia of the Order of St. George, the latter in an unusual format size).