The Life and Work of Stephan Dorfmeister
Born in Vienna, Stephan Dorfmeister was the eldest of five children born to Johann Christof Georg Dorfmeister and Elisabeth. His brother, Johann Georg Dorfmeister, was an Austrian sculptor. Between 1751 and 1758, Dorfmeister studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under instructors Paul Troger and Caspar Franz Sambach. By approximately 1760, he had acquired expertise in fresco painting. His professional career saw him receive commissions from the Provost of the Premonstratensian abbey in Gschirna for the monastery church, as well as work at the new monastery in Türje in 1761.
Dorfmeister's primary clientele included the Bishops of Steinamanger and Fünfkirchen, various monasteries, and members of the nobility. His surviving works include decorations at the municipal theater in Ödenburg, the hall in Nádasdy Castle, and the Hegyfalu castles near Kotenburg an der Raab. He also produced about fifty portraits. His workshop included his three eldest sons, including Stephan Joseph Dorfmeister the Younger and Joseph Paul Stephan Dorfmeister, who completed commissions such as the altarpiece at the church in Magotsch in 1798.
