Johann Heinrich Ferdinand Olivier

Olivier was born in Dessau where he received his first artistic training. In 1804 he moved to Dresden where he became acquainted with the painters Philipp Otto Runge and Caspar David Friedrich. From 1807 to 1810 Olivier was in Paris, and in 1811 he settled in Vienna. In 1817 Olivier became a member of the Brotherhood of Saint Luke. An artistic brotherhood (later known as the Nazarenes) founded in Vienna in 1809 by Friedrich Overbeck and Franz Pforr.

Olivier shared the Nazarenes' enthusiasm for northern medieval and Renaissance art and their interest in the revival of religious painting. In 1830 Olivier moved to Munich where he later became secretary of the Academy and Professor of Art History.