Johann Franz von der Schlichten

(1725–1795, Mannheim)

Johann Franz von der Schlichten, scion of a family of artists from the Netherlands, studied under Felice Torelli in Bologna and from 1745 to 1748 under Sebastiano Conca in Rome. The present self-portrait thus has a certain Italian touch. From the spring of 1751 the talented artist was director of the Electoral Art Gallery in Mannheim and from 1769 a teacher at the Academy there. Active in Mannheim throughout his life, he produced vedute and genre pictures in the manner of the 17th century Dutch Feinmaler.