MÜLLER, Johann Gotthard von, a German engraver, was born at Bernhausen in Wurtemberg in the year 1747, and was educated at the college of Stuttgart. He was intended at first for the church, but his own strong bias towards the study of design ultimately decided his profession. He became a pupil of the court painter, Guibal, in 1764. Yet his talents soon appeared to be more fitted for engraving than for painting; and therefore, by the advice of his master, he resorted to Paris in 1770 to study under the engraver Wille, a countryman of his own. He continued there until he had become a proficient in his art, had gained several prizes, and had been elected a member of the French Academy. Then an invitation from Duke Karl summoned him to Stuttgart in 1776 to teach engraving. After being settled here for more than nine years, he was recalled to Paris to engrave a portrait of Louis XVI. This work, and an engraving of Trumbull's "Battle of Bunker's Hill," were his chief productions during his second sojourn in Paris. On his return to Stuttgart in 1802, he was appointed professor of his art in that city, and experienced the gratification of seeing his own son Johann Friedrich far outstrip the rest of his pupils. His fame was now established, and honours flowed in upon him. He was elected a member of the several academies of Berlin, Vienna, Munich, and
Copenhagen; and he received from the government of Wurtemberg the Order of Civil Merit in 1808, and a knighthood in 1818. Yet his industry in the prosecution of his art did not slack. He was engaged in engraving a series of portraits of celebrated contemporaries, when the debility of an advanced age forced him to retire from his profession. His death took place at Stuttgart in March 1830. His engravings are chiefly portraits, and include a likeness of Schiller after A. Graf.