KÖNIG, Johann

German painter. He is first documented in Rome between 1610 and 1614, but his obvious knowledge of the work of Hans Rottenhammer the Elder suggests that he lived in Augsburg before travelling to Italy. He must have visited Venice, where it is documented that he made a miniature copy (untraced) of Veronese’s Marriage at Cana (1563; Paris, Louvre). In Rome he could have met Adam Elsheimer, who died in 1610 and whose influence is significant in König’s work. He also encountered the landscapes of Paul Bril and the early paintings of Carlo Saraceni. In 1614 he returned to Augsburg, where he married and became a master in the guild of painters in 1622.

The majority of König’s oeuvre consists of small cabinet paintings, often painted on copper, in a miniaturist style and technique developed during the artist’s sojourn to Rome.