Wolfgang-Adam Töpffer

He was the son of a German tailor from Schweinfurt, who had come to work in the Republic of Geneva for a few years, but decided to stay and become a citizen.

[1] He worked as an engraver in Lausanne for a short time, then went on an Alpine expedition with Horace-Bénédict de Saussure; making sketches.

While there, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied with Nicolas de Launay [fr] and learned watercolor technique from Jean-Thomas Thibault.

[2] When he returned home in 1789, he found the city in turmoil from the effects of the French Revolution and was unable to find regular employment, so he did his best to make a living from teaching drawing and doing the occasional portrait.

[2] He held an exhibit of these in 1792, then accompanied the painter Pierre-Louis de La Rive on his travels, becoming interested in landscapes and what would later be called plein-air painting.