Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf von Hohenberg

1732–1816, Vienna

Johann Ferdinand Hetzendorf, a Viennese-born architect and theatrical painter, studied architecture and architectural paint­ing at the city’s academy and subsequently undertook study trips to Germany and Italy. In the initial stages of his career he worked mostly as a scene and theatrical painter. Entrusted later with an increasing number of important commissions, Hetzendorf was named imperial court architect in 1775. Honorary appointments came his way at an early stage. He was made an honorary member of the Imperial Academy in Augsburg in 1758, elevated to the imperial peerage in 1766 and given the noble title of von Hohenberg. By 1770 at the latest he was professor of architecture at the Vienna Academy and from 1772 to 1816 headed its department of architecture. A further indication of Hetzendorf’s reputation was his appointment as the first German-speaking member of the Académie de France in Rome in 1773.