1932

Portrait of Government Secretary Franz Bavier (1774‒1822)

Place unknown, 1817

Franz Bavier came from an important family of members of parliament in Chur. He was a member of the Winegrower’s Guild, which he presided over from 1807 onwards as guild master. As such, he represented the interests of the guild in the Grand Council of the town of Chur. In 1814 he became one of five government secretaries. He stayed in office until his death.

The portrait was painted by Chur drawing teacher and artist Christian Gottlob Richter (1759‒1830). The simple and at the same time minutely realistic style of this painting is typical of the Biedermeier period.

Portraits of historical personalities form a main section of the collection. The Museum owns about 300 of them.