KOCH, Joseph Anton, Austrian scape painter and etcher: b. Obergiebeln, Tyrol, 27 July 1768; d. Rome, 12 Jan. 1839. He started life tending cattle; was given instruction at the Stuttgart Karlschule through the recommenda tion of Bishop Umgelder (1785). He ran away from the strict discipline (1791) and reached Strassburg and, later, Rome (1795), where he became acquainted with and a follower of the classic of Carstens. He adopted the style of Poussin and Claude Lorraine in land scape work. In his early days at Rome he etched the pages of Carstens 'Les Argonautes, selon Pindar, Orphie et Apollonius de Rhode> (Rome He also etched 20 Italian land scapes and a large sheet representing "the Oath of the French at Millesime; 14 pages after Dante, adding later another 30 (published Vicenza 1904), and 36 after Ossian. He con tributed American landscape scenes to the works of von Humboldt (1805). At the Pina
kothek, Munich, are his 'Sacrifice of Noah> and landscapes. He was forced, through inade quate income from his work, to go to Vienna, where he worked prolifically (1812-15). He returned to Rome, where he painted, among other works, the four frescoes in the Dante Room of the Villa Massimi (1824-29). His presence and personality had considerable in fluence among the younger generation in the art life of Rome. His work, directed humor ously against unjustifiable criticism and false connoisseurship, was entitled Kunst chronik oder die Rumfordische Suppege kocht und geschrieben von J. A. K.> (Stuttgart 1834). His last years were spent in great poverty. Consult Frimmel, 'Joseph Anton Koch' (in Dohne's 'Kunst and Kiinstler des 19ten Jahr hunderts,' Leipzig 1884).