a notable member of a German artistic family, originating in Bohemia. Most notable for his portraits, nudes and history paintings, he also produced drawings and frescoes. He was also known beyond Nuremberg for his "Die durch Theorie erfundene Practic,' a sequence of works on art-theory – the individual works were translated into several other languages and served as textbooks for students such as the Swiss Salomon Gessner right up until the 19th century. Preissler also wrote on the academically neglected topics such as ornament and flower-drawing (in 1725) and landscape drawing (1739), though throughout his writing he insisted that these were only beginners' lessons.
