Painter of landscapes and etcher. Born Mannheim 1749, died Munich 1822. Brother of Ferdinand (q.v.). Apprenticeship as a merchant in Mainz, hereafter back to Mannheim. Lived in Rome 1779-84 and moved to Munich 1793-97. Only about a dozen of his paintings are known, but he was an immensely prolific draughtsman in pen, ink, and wash, sometimes combined with red chalk, and was much admired by his contemporaries, especially Goethe, Georg von Dillis and Carl Friedrich von Rumohr for his neoclassical, idyllic style based on that of Claude and Gaspar Dughet. From contemporary accounts, it has been judged that Franz Kobell must have produced more than 10,000 drawings.
