16 January 1745 Born in Leipzig
Before 1756 first artistic training with Benjamin Calau (1724-1785) and Adam Friedrich Oeser (1717-1799) in Leipzig
c. 1756-1763 Studies at the Royal Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin | thereafter return to Leipzig
1770th Etchings after paintings from the collection Gottfried Winckler (1731-1795) in Leipzig
1773 Publication of an etching series with 14 Dutch landscapes
1775 Member of the Leipzig Academy
1776 Travel to Rome with a scholarship of the Saxon Elector | Journey with the friend Heinrich Friedrich Füger (1751-1818) | in Rome acquaintance with Johann Christian Reinhart (1761-1847) and Johann Sebastian Bach the Younger (1748-1778)
1780 Count Camillo Marcolini calls him back to Dresden | Design of numerous book illustrations and small figure scenes | Landscapes with idyllic scenery
1790 again in Rome | Work on small graphic series with Italian views
1792-94 Work on the graphic series Malerisch radirte Prospecte von Italien (Painterly etched vedutas of Italy) together with Johann Christian Reinhart (1761-1847) and Albert Christoph Dies (1755-1822) for the publisher Johann Friedrich Frauenholz in Nürnberg
1798 Return to Dresden after Napoleonic occupation of Rome | active as landscape painter | created ideal landscapes for the monuments of German poets designed by Johann Gottfried Klinsky (1765-1828)
14th März 1808 Death of Jakob Wilhelm Mechau in Dresden
