Johann Walch

JOHANN WALCH (1757-1815).
"Map of Poland", 1796.
Etching and illuminated etching in gouache on paper,
Measurements: 48 x 60 cm; 70 x 81 cm (frame).
Johannes Walch was a German painter, draughtsman, engraver, cartographer and publisher. The son of the merchant, amateur painter and engraver Sebastian Walch, he trained as a miniature painter in Augsburg, Geneva and the Vienna Academy of Art. After a two-year trip to Italy, he settled in Augsburg, where he married the eldest daughter of the Augsburg engraver and publisher Johann Martin Will, and worked in his father-in-law's publishing house. His contributions led the publisher to focus increasingly on map production, relying heavily on the acquisition of material from Lotter and Seutter. After Will's death in 1806, Walch inherited the company and continued to grow in importance as a map publisher. His son Johann Sebastian Walch (1787-1840) would inherit the publishing house.