Maximilian Emanuel Ainmiller (14 February 1807 – 9 December 1870) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 artist and glass painter

Glass art

Studio glass or glass sculpture is the modern use of glass as an artistic medium to produce sculptures or three-dimensional artworks. Specific approaches include working glass at room temperature cold working, stained glass, working glass in a torch flame , glass beadmaking, glass casting, glass...

.

Under the tutorage of Friedrich von Gärtner

Friedrich von Gärtner

Friedrich von Gärtner was a German architect.Gärtner and Leo von Klenze are the most well known architects of Bavaria during the reign of Ludwig I. His architecture was generally in the Romanesque style and much to the king's taste...

, director of the royal Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory

Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory

The Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory , manufacturer of Nymphenburg porcelain, is situated in the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, capital of Bavaria, and since the mid-eighteenth century has been manufacturing porcelain of high artistic value.- History :After his accession in 1745 Maximilian III...

, Ainmiller studied glass painting, both as a mechanical process and as an art, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1828 he was appointed director of the newly-founded royal painted-glass manufactory at Munich. The method which he gradually perfected there was a development of the enamel process adopted in the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

, and consisted in actually painting the design upon the glass, which was subjected, as each colour was laid on, to carefully adjusted heating.

The earliest specimens of Ainmiller's work are to be found in the cathedral of Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

. With a few exceptions, all the windows in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 cathedral are from his hand. Specimens may also be seen in St Paul's cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...

 and Peterhouse, Cambridge

Peterhouse, Cambridge

Peterhouse is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely...

, and the Cologne cathedral

Cologne Cathedral

Cologne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Cologne, Germany. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and is a World Heritage Site...

 contains some of his finest productions. Ainmiller had considerable skill as an oil-painter, especially in interiors, his pictures of the Chapel Royal

Chapel Royal

A Chapel Royal is a body of priests and singers who serve the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they are called upon to do so.-Austria:...

 at Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

 and of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

 being much admired. He is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof

Alter Südfriedhof

The Alter Südfriedhof is a cemetery in Munich, Germany. It was founded by Duke Albrecht V as a plague cemetery in 1563 about half a kilometer south of the Sendlinger Gate between Thalkirchner and Pestalozzistraße.-History:...

 in Munich.

Maximilian was also mentor to many famous painters, including future son-in-law David Dalhoff Neal

David Dalhoff Neal

David Dalhoff Neal , was an American artist.-Early years:David Dalhoff Neal was born to father Stephen Bryant Neal and mother Mary Neal, on Middlesex Street, in Lowell, Massachusetts...

, and grandfather to dramatist Max Neal

Max Neal

Maximilian Dalhoff Neal was a German playwright, born to the artist David Dalhoff Neal and Marie Ainmiller, and later brother to composer Heinrich Neal. His grandfather was the great glass painter Max Emanuel Ainmiller....

, and composer Heinrich Neal

Heinrich Neal

Heinrich Neal was a German Capellmeister at Heidelberg, born to the artist David Dalhoff Neal and Marie Ainmiller, and brother to dramatist Maximilian Dalhoff Neal...

who was born a few month prior to his death.