Brief Biography-Ján Kupecký was born in Pezinok (Pösing, Bösing) outside Pressburg. He studied under an artist named Benedikt Klaus, who brought him to Vienna to assist him in his work for three years. With a letter of introduction, he went to Venice to work with Pietro Liberi from Padua. In Rome, Johann Caspar Füssli, father of Johann Heinrich Füssli tutored him. With Prince Stanislaus Sobieski’s aid, he toured Italy, observing the works of masters such as Titian, Guido Reni and many more. After twenty years, Prince Adam von Liechtenstein brought him to Vienna, where he became a painter to Emperor Joseph I. He refused to work for any patron for long periods. When the emperor died, he worked for the Elector of Mentz, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha, and the Margrave of Ansbach. He turned down service with Charles VI, George II of England and Peter the Great, who he painted at Carlsbad. Because he was a protestant, he was accused of heresy and fled from the inquisition to Nuremberg, where he remained with his family.