Christian Hilfgott Brand (c. 1693 - 1756)

• Was a German-Austrian landscape painter.
• While he was still a boy, his father moved the family business to Hamburg.
• He then moved to Regensburg, to live with his mother's relatives.
• While doing so, he met the artist, Christoph Ludwig Agricola, and developed an interest in painting.
• Brand settled in Vienna, in 1720.
• Two years later, his first wife Rosina died, after giving birth.
• In 1725, he married Maria Magdalena Thorwild (died 1789).
• Largely self-taught up to that point, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts from 1726 to 1728, to sharpen his skills.

• In 1738, the Imperial Court cited him as a specialist in the Dutch style of painting.

• Two years later, he was awarded a commission for some unusually large works.

• To help complete them, he enlisted the aid of his friend, August Querfurt who, as a painter of hunting and battle scenes, specialized in horses and large groups of people.

• Despite the assistance, he became exhausted and suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the right side.

• He switched to painting with his left hand, and produced a "Magnificat" (a scene from the life of the Virgin Mary).
• It was indistinguishable from his previous works. 

• He was named one of the first honorary members of the Vienna Academy in 1751.

• Three years later, he was appointed an Advisor. 

• Two of his sons became artists: Friedrich August Brand, from his second marriage, and Johann Christian Brand, from his first.

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