Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger (11 January 1805 – 29 October 1880) was a Viennese artist.

Born in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Geiger wanted originally to follow the family tradition and become a sculptor but drawing and painting were his natural element. He illustrated Anton Ziegler’s Vaterländischen Immortellen ("Immortals of the Native Land") of 1839-40. Up to 1848 he carried out numerous illustrations of historical works and poetry but also made oil painting

Oil painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...

s for the Austrian Royal Family.

Returning from a journey to the Orient with Prince Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph in 1850 he entered a particularly creative period. In 1853 he became Professor of the Viennese Academy of Art

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is an institution of higher education in Vienna, Austria.- History :The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy by the court-painter Peter Strudl, who became the Praefectus Academiae Nostrae. In 1701 he was ennobled as Baron of the Empire...

. For the Royal Family he made many works including illustrations of Goethe, Friedrich Schiller

Friedrich Schiller

Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...

 and William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

. He also illustrated oriental life. http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Johann_Nepomuk_Geiger&oldid=41336753

He died also in Vienna on 29 October 1880.
His erotic drawings

Erotic art

Erotic art covers any artistic work that is intended to evoke erotic arousal or that depicts scenes of love-making. It includes paintings, engravings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, music and writing.-Definition:...

 are particularly remembered though it is unlikely that they were the typical work of a court painter

Court painter

A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre...

.

Selected works

• 1839: Ziegler, Anton. Vaterländischen Immortellen aus dem Gebiete der österreichischen Geschichte. 4 vols. Wien, 1840, 1839.
• 1843: Magyar-és Edélyország története rajzolatokban: Geschichte Ungarn's und Siebenbürgen's in Abbildungen ...; Geiger Péter N. János akadémiai képirótól; tervezte és magyar 's német nyelven magyarázta Wenzel Gusztáv. 10 vols. Wien, 1843
• Joseph von Bülow's Memorabilien aus der Europäischen Geschichte für anziehende Weltbegebenheiten, ausgezeichnete Grossthaten, Würdigung der Verdienste von berühmten Männern etc. Aus mehreren Jahrhunderten gesammelt. Mit insgesamt 96 getönten Federlithographien von Johann Nepomuk Geiger auf Tafeln. 2 vols. New York, 1860
• 1861: Historische Handzeichnungen; mit erklärendem Texte von Gustav Adolph Schimmer; mit neunzig Tafeln. Wien: Aus der kaiserlich-königlichen Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1861
• Die Schlacht bei Lützen (The battle of Lutzen)
• Kampf der Tiroler unter Andreas Hofer (The struggle of the Tyrolese under Andreas Hofer)

External source