Gottfried Bernhard Goetz

or Göz, 1708 Welehrad – 1774 Augsburg

Having been apprenticed as a painter in Brno and made his way through Lower Austria as a journeyman, Gottfried Bernhard Goetz (Göz) arrived in 1728/29 in Augsburg, where he resolved to continue his studies. He soon joined the circle around Johann Georg Bergmüller, the Catholic director of the Augsburg Academy, and began working under his guidance as an engraver. Most of his designs at this time were based on works by Bergmüller or Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer, but it was not long before Goetz began making engravings from his own inventions. Around 1737 he joined the brothers Johann and Joseph Klauber in sett­ing up a publishing company and shortly afterwards started issuing engravings himself, his company being granted an imperial privilege in 1742. Two years later he was awarded the title of imperial court painter and engraver.