Joseph the Younger Werner

1637 – 1710

Swiss painter, miniaturist and engraver. He first studied painting with his father, also named Joseph Werner, a little known artist. He then worked in the studio of Matthäus Merian the Younger in Frankfurt and went to Rome where he copied works by Pietro da Cortona and Andrea Sacchi and produced miniature paintings. He travelled to France where, at the court of Louis XIV he painted portraits of both the monarch himself and of various notables in his entourage; he also worked on the decorations of the Palace of Versailles. In 1667, he left France and went to Augsburg where he painted works for the Kreuzkirche and for the wife of the Elector of Bavaria. He painted the portrait of Emperor Leopold I. Then he was invited to Berlin by the Prussian King Frederik. He was at the Academy of Berlin between 1696 and 1707 and came back afterwards to Bern. Werner earned a reputation as a miniature painter and he also engraved historical subjects. He passed his artistic talents on to his sons; his younger son Francis Paul becoming a painter of birds and his first born, Joseph Christopher Werner, becoming a court painter.

View all works →