OESER, ADAM FRIEDRICH

born Feb. 17, 1717, Pozsowy, Hung. died March 18, 1799, Leipzig painter, sculptor, and engraver who opposed Mannerism in art. He allied himself with the Neoclassical archaeologist and art historian Johann Winckelmann in advocating art reform through the study of ancient masterpieces, although his own work shows little Greek influence. Trained in the art of modeling by a sculptor, Raphael Donner, Oeser attended the Vienna Academy (173039) as a pupil of the German portrait painter Anton Mengs. He then went to Dresden, where he did decorations for the court theatre and, later, mural painting in the Hubertusburg (1749). Named successively professor at the academy at Dresden and the newly founded art school at Leipzig (1764), he painted many works for public buildings and private collections both in oil and frescoes; he remained in Leipzig for the rest of his life. Among Oeser's most important works are frescoes in the Church of St. Nicholas, a monument of the elector Friedrich August, and small sculptures of the poet Christian Gellert and the Danish queen Mathilde, all in Leipzig. He also left many original engravings modeled after Rembrandt.