The painter and graphic artist Ferdinand Staeger was born in Trebic Moravia in 1880. He attended the Technical School for Textile Design in Brno 1894-96 and in 1902 the School of Applied Art in Prague. A stay in Vienna 1903/4 before retuning to Prague until 1908 when he and his wife moved to Munich. In WW1 he was an official war artist for the Austro-Hungarian war press bureau temporarily based in Poland. Between 1904 and 1930, he illustrated several books by authors such as Eichendorff, Eduard Morike and Gerhart Hauptmann among others. He is best known for his series of portfolios of etchings illustrating operatic works by Mozart and Wagner. Exhibited Glass Palace Munich, 1920, Munich Graphische Sammlung, 1927, also exhibited widely including in Vienna, Paris and Barcelona. More recently, an exhibition of his graphic work was held at K&K Ekkehard Kettner in Munich in 1992. Ref: Conrad Muschler: Ferdinand Staeger. Eine Monographie. Max Koch, Leipzig 1925.