Brief Biography-Joseph Karl Stieler was born in Mainz, Germany. He was mainly self-taught and started painting miniatures. In Aschaffenburg, Joseph Karl won the patronage of Archbishop Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg, which gained him considerable recognition. In 1802, he studied at the Vienna Academy of Arts in Paris under Heinrich Füger and François Gérard. The neoclassical style of painting influenced him. After visiting Italy, he worked for King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. His best-known portraits are that of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. His Galleries of Beauties is an essential part of the oeuvre; Ludwig I of Bavaria commissioned it. The King made him a court painter in 1820. His later years were in Tegernsee, and he died in Munich in 1885.