Carl Marcus Tuscher Biography

Carl Marcus Tuscher (1705–1751) was a German-born painter, printmaker and architect who worked in Italy, England and Denmark. Born in Nuremberg, he grew up in modest circumstances and spent part of his childhood in an orphanage. His drawing abilities brought him to the attention of a patron who arranged for him to study with Johann Daniel Preisler, the director of the Nuremberg Academy. In 1728 he received support to travel to Rome, where he studied painting and architecture.

He remained in Italy for more than a decade, working as a portrait painter, architectural designer and engraver. His contacts included antiquarians and travellers interested in classical ruins and archaeological discoveries. Tuscher also visited Florence and Naples, where he recorded subjects associated with the excavations at Herculaneum. His extensive experience in Italy gave his work a mixture of Baroque grandeur and classical restraint.

Tuscher travelled through France and the Netherlands to London in 1741. There he painted portraits of artists, craftsmen and their families, including George Michael Moser and His Wife Mary Guynier (c.1742–43). Moser was an artist and gold-chaser who later became the first Keeper of the Royal Academy. Their daughter Mary Moser, born in 1744, was herself a painter and one of the Academy's two female founding members, alongside Angelica Kauffman.

In 1743 Tuscher was invited to Copenhagen by King Christian VI of Denmark. He became court painter and worked on royal portraits, elaborate decorative projects and architectural proposals. He also prepared engravings from the Egyptian travel drawings of the naval officer Frederik Ludvig Norden. Tuscher was appointed professor at the Copenhagen art academy in 1748. He died in Copenhagen on 6 January 1751, having pursued a notably varied artistic career.