Moritz Michael Daffinger - Buy or sell works
25 January 1790, Vienna (Austria) - 21 August 1849, Vienna (Austria)
Moritz Michael Daffinger was an Austrian painter who rose to prominence for his miniature portraits and watercolours in particular. He was among the most popular portrait painters of Viennese Biedermeier in the early 19th century.
Born 1790 in Vienna as the son of the porcelain painter Johann Leopold Daffinger, he started an apprenticeship under his father at an early age. Daffinger then enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under the tutelage of Heinrich Füger, where he was accepted as a student by Hubert Maurer, who also taught Johann Evangelist Scheffer von Leonhardshoff and Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, among others. Even then, Daffinger received a number of academy awards. He specialised in the genre of miniature portrait painting from 1809, with which he celebrated significant success and to which he remained faithful until 1841. Following the death of his only daughter, Daffinger almost exclusively produced works depicting flowers until he passed away, succumbing to cholera in 1849.
He left behind an oeuvre of around 1,000 portraits and approximately 200 floral works. Particularly characteristic of his portraits were their realism and faithfulness to detail, which made them extremely popular. His patrons included preeminent members of the aristocracy and bourgeois society. He maintained strong connections within the Viennese Biedermeier scene, especially thanks to Prince Metternich, who had the time was foreign secretary. Daffinger produced an extensive collection of portraits depicting prestigious figures for Metternich’s wife. He preferred to work with watercolour, and also enjoyed using ivory.
His portrait graced the Austrian 20-shilling bank note until introduction of the euro in 1999.
Auctions at the Dorotheum have successfully featured works by Moritz Michael Daffinger for many years. A portrait of his wife Marie Daffinger dated 1828 was sold for €34,560 at an auction of 19th century paintings on 23 October 2014.