Born in Bohemia, he arrived to Vienna at the age of twenty-three years and worked as a porcelain painter. In 1872, he found an associate to create the company Rädler & Pilz, soon known in his field. He married and became a father of eight children, four of whom died in infancy. He was hospitalized for the first time in 1893 in a Viennese hospital and in 1905 committed to the Franz Josef regional hospital in Mauer-Öhling, where he remained until his death. Suffering from schizophrenia, he was described as a difficult patient, violent with his doctors and caregivers, willingly comparing his treatment at the hospital with the tortures of the Inquisition. He affirmed the need to “grow the Good, the Noble and the Beautiful,” often quoting Confucius and reading the letters from Goethe. He began drawing at the hospital. Very productive (there are 800 to 900 works), he considered himself as a great artist. He painted mostly on the front and back with watercolors, then resumes with ink. On the front, he generally represented figurative motifs within several decorative frames, while on the back he added writings surrounded with other ornamental frames. Initially, he drew especially sunrises and sunsets, and all kinds of exotic birds. After his transfer to Mauer-Öhling the daily activities related to the hospital became his main subject. All of his drawings are dated and signed. His work has been unearthed fifty years after his death, thanks to the interest of Pr Navratil.