Portret van Johann Georg Sulzer

1765

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.

16 October 1771

Marries Elisabetha Sophie Augusta Sulzer

On 16 October 1771 he marries Elisabetha Sophie Augusta Sulzer, called “Guste”, the daughter of Johann Georg Sulzer, whose portrait he painted in Berlin.