Background
Josef Grassi was born in Vienna, the younger brother of sculptor and porcelain modeller Anton Grassi.
Josef Grassi was born in Vienna, the younger brother of sculptor and porcelain modeller Anton Grassi.
Josef studied at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
His middle name is usually given as "Maria", although there is evidence that it was actually "Mathias". He is also called "Giuseppe Grassi". Their father, Ottilio, was a goldsmith from Udine.
When the Kościuszko Uprising broke out in 1794, he was able to leave the battle zone through the mediation of Kościuszko, whose portrait he had painted.
In 1799, he was appointed a Professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. From 1816 to 1821, he was in Rome again, serving as the "Director of Studies for Saxon Artists in Italy".
Grassi is best known for his sensitive portraits of women. He died in Dresden, aged 80.
In his later years, his style became less graceful and settled into a form of academic classicism.
He took two leaves of absence while there. One to Gotha in 1804, where he decorated a bedroom for Duke Augustus and, from 1808 to 1810 to Rome as a member of the Accademia di San Luca.