Joseph Knaffl was an American art and portrait photographer, active in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
10 Facts About Joseph Knaffl
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Joseph Knaffl is best known for his 1899 portrait, "Knaffl Madonna," which has been reprinted thousands of times, and is still used for Hallmark Christmas cards.
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Joseph Knaffl was born in Wartburg, Tennessee, in 1861, the son of Austrian-born physician, Rudolph Joseph Knaffl, and his wife, Rosalie.
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Rudolph Joseph Knaffl had been a court physician at the emperor's court in Vienna before moving to the United States in the aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848.
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In 1909, Joseph Knaffl formed a portrait studio with one of his proteges, James Brakebill.
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Joseph Knaffl was in charge of the photography exhibit at the Appalachian Exposition of 1910, and Joseph Knaffl and Brakebill provided much of the portrait work for the National Conservation Exposition of 1913.
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Joseph Knaffl operated Knaffl and Brother until his death in 1938.
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Joseph Knaffl's son, named Samuel, joined Joseph Knaffl and Brother in 1924, and assumed control of the business after his father's death.
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Samuel Joseph Knaffl died in 1969, and the business, which had evolved into a framing gallery on Kingston Pike, passed to his widow, Sarah.
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Joseph Knaffl's photographs were featured in magazines such as The Photographic Review, Photo-era Magazine, Photographic Times, Anthony's Photographic Bulletin, and Wilson's Photographic Magazine.