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(5) Georg Kilian
(b Augsburg, 30 Dec 1683, d Augsburg, 18 July 1745). Grandson of (3) Philipp Kilian. He began his six-year apprenticeship in 1694, aged only 11, with the Augsburg historical painter Isaac Fisches (1638–1706), who, owing to Kilian’s extraordinary talent, instructed him free of charge. In 1701 he is known to have visited Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin. An envoy of the Prussian court recommended him to the court of Vienna; yet already in 1704 he left for Nuremberg, where his father was living. Here he worked mainly for the publisher Christoph Weigels (1654–1725), producing illustrations using mezzotint and copper engraving techniques. Kilian became a member of the Nuremberg Malerakademie and thus received many commissions for portraits of important citizens. He had returned to Augsburg, however, the centre of copper engraving, by 1708 when he married Juliane Maria Göbel, a granddaughter of the historical painter Matthäus Gundelach. The following years established his reputation, and commissions for pastel portraits twice brought him to the German legation in Regensburg. He painted portaits of the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince of Oettingen and also worked for the Bayreuth court. At the same time he consolidated his reputation as an engraver, engraving many Thesenblätter, initially for the Augsburg publisher Elias Christoph Heiss (1660–1731), but soon for a publishing company of his own. This company grew rapidly, and Kilian became prosperous on the basis of the costly large Thesenblätter.
Part of the Kilian family
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