Derweil im Leben von Anton Graff
Das ganze Leben1765
Invitation to Dresden: Hagedorn asks him to apply
Back in Winterthur and Zurich in 1765, he receives from Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn, newly appointed director of the recently established Dresden Art Academy, an invitation to apply for a post. Graff hesitates, thinking himself not good enough for the princely court of Saxony.
16 January 1766
A self-portrait wins Hagedorn: a contract in a day
To give Hagedorn an impression of his talent he sends him a self-portrait; it arrives in Dresden on 16 January 1766 and is so well received that only a day later Hagedorn draws up Graff’s employment contract.
7 April 1766
Arrives in Dresden as court painter
On 7 April 1766 he arrives in Dresden, where he is appointed court painter and teacher of portrait painting at the academy. He keeps the academy post for life, although he gets better-paid offers from other academies; his pupils include Emma Körner, Philipp Otto Runge and Karl Ludwig Kaaz.
1768
Meets Goethe in Dresden
In Dresden he meets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Graff becomes the main portrait painter of German poets from the Enlightenment to early Romanticism, and many of them are also his friends.
1769
Meets the Leipzig publisher Philipp Erasmus Reich
Reich, a well-known Leipzig bookseller and publisher, becomes a good friend and engages him to portray his scholar friends.
