Johann Friedrich Matthai

Training under Heinrich Füger and Giovanni Battista Casanova is recorded. Philipp Veit is recorded as having studied under Johann Friedrich Matthai. The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history. Employment is recorded with Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. Work by Johann Friedrich Matthai is recorded in the collections of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.

He was born in Meissen. He was the son of Johann Gottlob Matthäi (1753–1832), a Meissen porcelain manufacturer, who later became an architect and sculptor. He initially studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts with Giovanni Battista Casanova. This was followed by studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna with Heinrich Friedrich Füger. After study trips and stays in Florence (1802–1804), and Rome (1805–1807), he became a teacher at the Dresden Academy and, in 1810, was named its director. In 1823, he was appointed Inspector (curator) for the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister; becoming its director in 1834. He was one of the last exponents of pure Classicism in Germany. He died in Vienna, while returning from a trip to Italy. In Dresden. He was a longtime member of the Dresden Freemasons lodge, "Zum goldenen Apfel" (The Golden Apple). His students at the Academy included the Nazareners Carl Eggers and Johannes Veit.