Born 1737 in Schweidnitz in Silesia, died 1823 in Bozen. He was first trained with his father, the portraitist Johann, but to avoid military service he soon fled from Prussia to Bohemia, where he worked for Angelo Garboni, a master of perspectival theatrical sets, for a considerable length of time. Then he began a restless travelling life which led him to Vienna, Graz, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Trieste and Venice, where he earned his living above all as a painter of portrait miniatures. Finally he settled in Bozen/Bolzano, where he remained until his death, with the exception of a short sojourn with Giambettino Cignaroli and Felice Boscaratti in Verona. He is known to have painted frescoes, altarpieces and small-size secular works, among them particularly the well-known conversation pieces (Konversationsstücke). Henrici’s typical Rococo style indicates that he knew the painting of Venice and Bologna and that his development was closely linked to the changes in taste which came over time. The National Gallery in Athens holds six of Henrici’s works, one is in the Pokrajinski muzej in Maribor (A Masked Ball, 67.6 x 90.2 cm, Inv. No. N 1331), while one was on sale at Sotheby’s in London on 7 July 1993, No. 16 (as German school, 18th century, Carnival in Saint Mark’s Square in Venice, 65 x 88.8 cm).
Lit.: Nicolo Rasmo, Il Palazzo Menz a Bolzano, Bolzano 1972; Nicolo Rasmo, Karl Henrici: Maler: 1737-1823, Bozen 1977; Silvia Spada Pintarelli, Una nuova serie orientale di Carl Henrici al Museo di Bolzano, Festschrift: Nicolo Rasmo: Scritti in onore, Bozen-Bolzano 1986, pp. 399-408; Settecento, Vol. I-II, Milano 1990 (biogr. Marina Botteri).