Heinrich Carl Brandt (1724 – 1787)

• Was an Austrian-German court painter.
• Christian Hilfgott Brand, is generally believed to have been his father.
• From 1739 to 1745, he studied with Jacob van Schuppen at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.
• He then learned portrait painting in the master class of Martin van Meytens.
• Elector, Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein appointed him a court painter with an annual salary of 600 Florins, plus food and lodging.
• In 1761, the Elector sent him to Mannheim to order stamps from the mint.
• In 1764, he received another appointment as court painter, for Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria.
• Despite a regular salary, in the mid-1770s he began to suffer from financial problems.
• In 1787, he developed a close friendship with Gabriele Corva, the young daughter of the Elector's Castle Keeper, Franz Corva.
• The relationship was criticized as immoral, and brought his entire lifestyle into discussion.
• In 1787 he committed suicide by poisoning.
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