John Henry, the Elder, a celebrated painter of the eighteenth century, was the son of a baker in Hayna, Hesse, and was born there in 1722. He was first apprenticed to a locksmith, but displaying some talent in drawing, he was taken away and placed with a paper-stainer in Cassel. A production of his attracted the notice of Count Stadion, through whose means he was enabled to visit France, where he studied for five years under Vanloo. He subsequently went to Venice and Rome, and in 1751 returned to Cassel, where he was soon after appointed cabinet painter to the landgrave. He was also director of the Academy of the Fine Arts in Cassel, and died there on the 22d August 1787. He was a very industrious painter, and excelled chiefly in historical and mythological subjects; but his works are little known out of Germany.

John Henry William, the Younger, nephew of the preceding, was born at Hayna in 1751. He first studied with his uncle, and afterwards spent some time in Hamburg, Holland, Hanover, and Berlin. In 1781 he went to Rome, and in 1787 to Naples. In the latter place he rapidly rose to distinction, and in 1790 was appointed director of the Academy of Painting, with a salary of 600 ducats per annum. On the breaking out of the revolution in 1799 he returned to Germany. The rest of his life was spent chiefly at Hamburg, and at Eutin near Oldenburg, at the latter of which he died in 1829. He painted many pictures of great beauty, and excelled in animal pieces. In 1796 he published in Naples a work, entitled Têtes des différents Animaux dessinées d'après Nature, with the view of showing the character of different animals from their physiognomies, to which he was probably led by his connection with Lavater. He also published, in 4 vols. folio, A Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases, mostly of pure Greek workmanship, discovered in Sepulchres in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but chiefly in the neighbourhood of Naples, during the years 1789 and 1790, now in the possession of Sir W. Hamilton. In 1801-4 appeared, in folio, his favourite work, Illustrations of Homer from Antiques, with explanations by Heyne.