His brother's face - Ludwig and Emil Schulthess, chalk drawing by Hans Jakob Oeri, circa 1818

 

Born 21 August 1805 in Zurich, and raised in the venerable - and still extant - Lindengarten house at Hirschengraben 18, the twin boys were, along with two other brothers, the children of councilor, banker and, silk merchant Leonhard Schulthess and his wife Dorothea Nüscheler.

Ludwig Schulthess - at left - became an important engineer and draftsman. Having studied in Vienna and Karlsruhe, he returned home and married in 1833; he and his wife had four children before he died of typhus 10 May 1844 at the age of only thirty-eight.

Emil - at right - joined his parents' silk business. He also worked as a heraldist and landscape painter, creating numerous views of castles and churches in the canton of Zurich as well as old Zurich. He died 15 September 1855 at the age of fifty.

Ludwig - and very possibly both brothers - was said to be color blind, certainly a reason that their preferred medium was sepia.

Oeri may have had special insight when it came to a portrayal of twins, as the artist was a twin himself.