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WILLE Johann Georg

SG Collezione Stampe / Authors  / WILLE Johann Georg
Wille IG; Il concerto di famiglia - 350

WILLE Johann Georg

(Bieberthal 1715 – Paris 1808)

German draftsman and etcher. After a period of training in Strasbourg he moved to Paris where he opened a thriving school of drawing and engraving, attended by numerous students, some of whom became known engravers: Weirotter, Beisson, Byrne, Daudet, Schultze, Klauber etc …
He first devoted himself to the printed translation of works by ancient masters, but soon many painters, his contemporaries, entrusted him with the task of etching their compositions, thus contributing to increase his fame as an etcher. Famous in most of Europe for his brilliant and light manner in the reproduction of prints, he was nominated as court engraver of King Louis XV, Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick V of Denmark.
There were also numerous awards and honors attributed to Wille by nobles and ruling houses.
With the reversal of values in the social hierarchies that followed the French revolution, and the marked weakening of his sight, he was gradually marginalized until he died in poverty in Paris in 1808.

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