Johann Wilhelm Preyer

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German still life painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting, today considered one of the best artists in the genre in the 19th century, due to his minute and carefully detailed work. He painted mainly still lifes of flowers and fruit. Both he and his brother Gustav were very small-statured, and in his youth Preyer occasionally took advantage of this by dressing as a child to play pranks. Beginning in 1882, Preyer studied art at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Peter von Cornelius and became a master student of Wilhelm von Schadow. He continued his studies in the Netherlands, Munich, northern Italy, and Switzerland between 1835 and 1843. He returned to Düsseldorf in 1844. Around 1844, Preyer married Emilie Lachenwitz, the sister of painter Siegmund Lachenwitz. They had a daughter, also named Emilie, and a son, Paul, both of whom also became painters. Preyer was one of the founding members of the Association of Düsseldorf Artists (1844). He occasionally took private students, one of whom was the American still life painter Helen Searle. He died on 20 February 1889, aged 85, in Düsseldorf. Link to Wikipedia biography