Johann Eleazar Zeissig

Johann Eleazar Zeissig, also known as Schenau (7 November 1737 – 23 August 1806), was a German genre, portrait and porcelain painter, and engraver; director of the Royal Academy of Arts in Dresden.

Schenau was born in 1737, the son of Elias Zeissig and Anna Elisabeth (née Paul), poor Damask weavers, of Großschönau, near Zittau in Saxony. Together with his five sisters, he was tutored by his father in arithmetic, writing, reading and also learnt the trade of Damask weaving. He showed an early talent for painting and drawing, and was sent away at the age of twelve to study art in Dresden, where he was also employed as a lawyer's clerk. Through the help of a pupil of Anton Raphael Mengs, he was accepted at the Dresden art school.

Here, Schenau was taught by Charles-François de Silvestre, the son of the director of the school, Louis de Silvestre. In 1756, after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, he accompanied the Sylvestre brothers to Paris, where he stayed until 1770, working at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with, amongst others, Johann Georg Wille. He became acquainted with leading French artists of the day, such as François Boucher, Gabriel François Doyen, Maurice Quentin de La Tour and Edmé Bouchardon; he was particularly influenced by the work of Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Schenau copied the works of the old masters such as Antonio da Correggio, Guido Reni and Titian, and acquired the patronage of the Saxon ambassador, General Fontenay. He also became a china painter, working at the porcelain factory in Sèvres, taking on, in addition, the roles of goldsmith, engraver and sculptor.

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