Education
When he was ten years old, he was apprenticed to an uncle who had a masonry workshop and remained there for ten years.
When he was ten years old, he was apprenticed to an uncle who had a masonry workshop and remained there for ten years.
One of his first projects after graduating involved a series of anatomical figures for the famed ophthalmologist Joseph Barth. He was offered a permanent position as an anatomical sculptor at a good salary, but had higher ambitions and turned it down. A commission from Prince Kaunitz for fountains at the Schönbrunn Palace enabled him to a stay in Rome from 1776 to 1781, initially under the sponsorship of Anton Raphael Mengs.
While there, he became dissatisfied with what he felt were the superfluous mannerisms of the most popular sculptures and sought to create a purer Classical style.
He is also well known for a monument to Leopold II in the Augustinian Church and the tomb of Field Marshal Ernst Gideon von Laudon at the Schloss Laudon. In 1894 a street in Landstraße was named the "Zaunergasse" in his honor.