UNTERBERGER, Christoph
(b. 1732, Cavalese, d. 1798, Roma)

Biography

Austrian painter, nephew of Michelangelo Unterberger and Franz Sebald Unterberger. He studied first in Brixen (now Bressanone, Italy) with Franz Sebald Unterberger, and c. 1750 he went to Vienna to work under Michelangelo Unterberger. In 1754 he won first prize at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna and became a member. He then moved to Venice and later to Verona, where he attended the school of Giambettino Cignaroli.

In 1758 he settled permanently in Rome, with visits to Cavalese in 1769 and 1796. He lived in the same house as various other artists, including Friedrich Anders (b. ca. 1734, active 1797-1816), Martin Knoller and Nicolas Mosmann (1727-87). In 1772 he was made a member of the Accademia di San Luca, then presided over by Anton Raphael Mengs, and in 1775 he married Ottavia della Valle, the daughter of the sculptor Filippo della Valle, and so became the brother-in-law of the goldsmith Luigi Valadier.