Die Pariser Werkstatt, by Hans Jakob Oeri, 1807

Oeri's Die Pariser Werkstatt (Paris Workshop), also known as Das Pariser Atelier, shows a sparsely furnished Parisian living and working space. On the left is the older brother of the artist, Georg Oeri, a mechanic; next to him is the artist's twin brother Hans, who completed an apprenticeship as a tinsmith in Paris; on the right, across the table, is the artist himself; finally, on the far right, is the portraitist David Sulzer, with whom Oeri had moved to Paris in the summer of 1803 to study with the great Jacques-Louis David.

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Hans Jakob Oeri (16 December 1782, Kyburg - 24 February 1868, Zürich), Swiss portrait and history painter, draftsman, and lithographer. The son of a pastor, he spent his childhood in Kyburg und Regensdorf. In 1803, along with his friend, the portrait painter David Sulzer, he travelled to Paris, where he spent four years studying with Jacques-Louis David; two of his brothers later joined them in Paris. He displayed several portraits at exhibitions in Paris and Zürich in 1804 and 1805, and decided to devote himself primarily to portrait painting. In 1809, he travelled to Russia, working as a portrait painter and art teacher. He was witness to the Fire of Moscow in 1812, during which many of his own works were lost; he responded by painting pictures of the fire and its aftermath. Altogether, he remained in Russia for eight years, then spent a short time in Lübeck before returning to Zürich. In addition to his original paintings, he made lithographs of great works by the likes of Holbein and Raphael, collaborated on public art, and made costume studies. In addition, after his death, numerous historical paintings were found in his estate, works which he had never shown in public.