Johann Knapp
1778–1833 · Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire · Biedermeier
The story
Johann Knapp spent much of his working life among the plants of Schönbrunn, the Habsburg summer palace outside Vienna. From 1804 he was chamber painter to Archduke Anton Viktor, a brother of Emperor Francis, lived at the palace, and from 1808 painted the exotic plants grown in its Dutch Garden. He also worked for Archduke Johann, recording the flowers of the Alps.
Born in Vienna in 1778, Knapp studied at the Academy, spent three years in a wallpaper factory, and learned flower painting from Johann Baptist Drechsler, the leading Viennese master of the genre. His best-known work is Homage to Jacquin, a large allegory of 1821 to 1822 honouring the botanist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and displaying the plant classification systems of the day. The Belvedere's Still Life with Goldfish Bowl dates from 1810. Knapp died in Vienna in 1833, and his son Joseph also became a flower painter.
