Carl Marcus Tuscher

Marcus Tuscher
Marcus Tuscher's self-portrait
Born	(1705-06-01)1 June 1705 Nuremberg, Holy Roman Empire
Died	6 January 1751(1751-01-06) (aged 45) Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark
Education	Johan Daniel Preisler
Known for	Printmaking, painting, architecture

Carl Marcus Tuscher (1 June 1705 in Nuremberg – 6 January 1751 in Copenhagen) was a German-born Danish polymath: portrait painter, printmaker, architect, and decorator of the Baroque period.

Tuscher was born in the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg in 1705 to humble parents. His mother, Ursula Negelin, was single, while his father is said to have been Ferdinand Tuscher, who gave him his name. He was educated at Findelhaus and later as an apprentice to a painter, director of Nuremberg's Academy of Arts, Johan Daniel Preisler, who was the father of engraver Johan Martin Preisler.

When his apprenticeship was over (1728), he had made considerable progress and was considered such a promising and accomplished artist that the city gave him a traveling scholarship to Rome, where in addition to studying oil painting, he studied architecture of the period, making drawings for several churches and palaces (his projects for church buildings earned him a Papal Knight's Cross). He was employed by Prussian antiquarian Baron Philipp von Stosch, whose collection contained over 10,000 cameos, intaglios, and antique glass pastes. Tuscher's pay for organizing the Baron's collection was extremely modest, but he profited greatly from his learned patron's guidance in the sciences. He also progressed significantly in his study of the classical languages during this period.

Stosch, who was also a British spy, for political reason had to flee from the Papal States to Florence in 1734, taking refuge under the tolerant rule of Gian Gastone de' Medici. Tuscher followed him to live in the grand-duchy. Still employed by v. Stosch for several years, he was also given tasks by the Grand Ducal court and executed a proposal for the façade of the church of S. Lorenzo. After visiting Naples he left Italy in 1741 for France, Holland and England, even though he was aware his scholarship actually demanded that he return to Nuremberg after graduation.