(Vienna 1790–1849) A portrait of a blond boy in a black jack and a yellow vest, against a cloudy background, signed Daffinger, watercolour on ivory, 7,1 x 5,4 cm, oval format, in an original chiselled and gilded brass frame, (Hu)

Ausgestellt: Albertina Vienna, 1924, Miniaturenausstellung, Kat. No. 250, ex. coll. Gottfried Eißler.

Literature: Emil Pirchan, Moritz Michael Daffinger, Miniaturmaler des Vormärz, Vienna/Leipzig 1943, Fig. 59.

Moritz

Michael Daffinger was the son of the porcelain painter Johann Leopold Daffinger. At the age of ten he began to draft designs for his mother who embroidered gloves for noble ladies. A year later he was received as an apprentice in the Royal and Imperial porcelain manufacture. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and was pupil of Heinrich Friedrich Füger. From 1809 onwards he dedicated himself mainly to portraiture, particularly on ivory. In 1812 he became portrit painter of Count Metternich. He was strongly influenced by Thomas Lawrence and Eugene Isabey. After his daughter‘s death in 1841 he turned more and more towards painting flower still lifes. Daffinger died in 1849 from the cholera. As a portrait miniature painter he was so important that he influenced the most miniaturists in Austria following him. His oeuvre comprises more then 1000 miniature portraits.

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