Moonlighting artists...

Johann Jakob Rumpelt (1706-1782) came to Kaufbeuren in 1730 from Augsburg. He was a woodblock cutter, which means he made models for canvas printing. However, he was not able to live solely off his trade and tried to improve his income by taking up reverse glass painting. He also occasionally served as a guard at various city gates. He signed and dated a few of his works, such as the perpetual calendar or a picture of the 100-year celebrations of the Peace of Westphalia.

Johann Matthäus Bauhoff (1716-1788) was born in Kaufbeuren and was a weaver by trade. He too obviously struggled to live off his income and tried to supplement this with various additional jobs, including as a gate keeper and clock adjuster at the Kemnat Gate and by painting reverse glass pictures. He is not described as an artist in the archives but left more than ten signed pictures, including several portraits of the Prussian King Frederick II.

Of all the reverse glass painters from Kaufbeuren, we know the least about Ottmar Labhard (1732-1772). The only things we know are that he was a "French language teacher" and was related to Christian Bachschmid, another "moonlighting reverse glass painter." We only know of one reverse glass painting signed by him, and this can be found at Vitrocentre in Romont in Switzerland. Other paintings show significant stylistic similarities with this work.

Christian Bachschmid (approx. 1753-1792) was a weaver and tutor, both low-paid professions, who supplemented his income by painting reverse glass pictures. Although only one of his signed paintings remains, others have been attributed to Bachschmid based on their style. He was related to another reverse glass painter, Ottmar Labhard, and in 1786 married the daughter of Johann Jakob Rumpelt, another man who painted reverse glass images as a secondary income.