Bartholomaeus Ignaz Weiss

Bartholomaeus Ignaz Weiss was an artist active during a short, documented period spanning 1745 to 1750. While details regarding his biography are limited, his output includes drawings and prints indicative of mid-18th century European academic practice.

Weiss is represented in major international institutions, with seven works held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These holdings consist of five drawings and two prints, establishing a verifiable scope of his media. His surviving body of work suggests an emphasis on preparatory figure study, portraiture, and landscape.

Among his collected drawings are complex sheets dedicated to anatomical and classical study, such as Figure and head-studies (including Bacchus), and the extensive recto/verso studies of drapery seen in Studies of draped female and male figures; verso: Studies of draped female figures. Weiss also engaged with religious subjects, as evidenced by the drawing Study for a Nativity, Bearded Male Saint, and Head Studies (recto). His oeuvre further encompasses formal depiction, including the Portrait of a bearded man holding a book, and pastoral scenes, exemplified by the Landscape with a man and a dog at lower left, two trees and a house at right, hills in far distance.

Today, works by Bartholomaeus Ignaz Weiss are valuable for scholars studying 18th-century draftsmanship. As historical works, many of these drawings and Bartholomaeus Ignaz Weiss prints are now in the public domain, allowing for the availability of museum-quality reproductions and downloadable artwork for research purposes.