Michelangelo Unterberger (1695 - 1758)

• Michelangelo Unterberger, also Michael Angelo Unterberger and Michelangelo Unterperger.

• Was a South Tyrolean painter.
• He was the son of a forest warden.

• His first studies were with Giuseppe Alberti in Cavalese.

• He completed his training with a study trip to Venice, where he worked with Nicola Grassi.

• After that, he moved to Bolzano.

• In the years around 1730, he worked at various monasteries and churches in Passau and the lower Inn valley as an altar painter.

• In 1737, he settled permanently in Vienna, receiving a number of commissions from the Imperial Court.

• From 1751 to 1754 and again from 1757 to 1758, he was the Rector of the "Imperial and Royal Court Academy of painters.

• The title "Rector Magnificus" was originally bestowed upon him in 1751 by the Empress Maria Theresa. 

• Upon his death, his valuable collection of paintings and drawings was bequeathed to his younger brother Franz, who was also a well-known painter.

• In 1899, a street in Vienna's Brigittenau district was named after him.

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