Johann Balzer

John of Rokycan, engraved portrait

Johann Balzer (6 August 1738 – 14 December 1799) was an 18th-century Bohemian engraver

Life

Balzer was born at Kuks, in Bohemia, in 1738. He was first instructed in art by Michal Rentz, but subsequently completed his education by travelling through Germany, where he visited several Academies. He chiefly resided at Prague, where he produced numerous works, mostly portraits, and died in 1799. He left two sons, Anton (1771-1807) and Johann Karl (1771-1805), who were both engravers, together with his brothers Mathias and Gregor.^[1]

Works

His works include:

• A set of fifty plates of Landscapes and Architectural subjects, with Biblical, mythological, and genre groups of figures} after Norbert Grund, an old German painter.
• Two sets of Portraits of Artists and Learned Men of Bohemia and Moravia; published at Prague in the years 1773 to 1782 (ninety plates).^[1]

References

Sources

This article incorporates text from the article "BALZER, Johann" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.