The German painter, writer and illustrator Friedrich Wilhelm Kuhnert was born in Oppeln on 18 September 1865. The artist started a technical and commercial training at the age of 17 which he quit again. From 1883 to 1887 he studied at the Royal Academic University of Arts with a scholarship. Kuhnerts lived in Berlin. He took trips to Egypt, East Africa and India. Studies of landscapes and animals are his favorite motives, e.g. African lions. In 1894 Kuhnert married Emilie Caroline Wilhelmine Ottilie Alvine Herdikerhoff, who was just 18 years old at that time. From this marriage came one child. He died during a break in Switzerland (Flims Graubünden) on 11 February 1926. Up to now Friedrich Wilhelm Kuhnert has been seen as the most significant German animal painter of his time.