Johann Jakob Grund was a German miniaturist, writer and musician. Little is known about his life and work. From 1779, he stayed in Rome where he married two years later. Grund was in contact with other artists, among them Goethe, was engaged in research on antiquities and was appointed professor at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1791. In 1794, he returned to Germany, settled in Prague a short time later and devoted himself to music. From 1814 he was professor at the Prague Conservatory. Grund was also active as a writer: in 1789 his anonymously written, two-volume A German artist's painterly journey to Rome appeared; in 1810/11 he published the two volumes of the treatise Die Malerey der Griechen oder Entstehung, Fortschritt, Vollendung und Verfall der Malerey The painting of the Greeks or the origin, progress, perfection and decay of painting.