He was one of seven children born to the shoemaker, Johann Kirner (1772-1835). For financial reasons, he initially had to learn art through apprenticeships with a coach painter in
Freiburg and a
decorative painter in
Villingen. His older brother, the portrait painter , who had served similar apprenticeships, was admitted to the Augsburg art school (today
Augsburg University of Applied Sciences) in 1822, at age of twenty-eight. In 1824, Johann was finally able to attend the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Three years later, he received funds from a scholarship established by
Marie Ellenrieder; awarded to him by
Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden. At first, he focused on works with religious themes, but soon turned to secular subjects; creating some humorous pictures based on the poems of
Johann Peter Hebel. After 1829, he was a free-lance artist in Munich. He was awarded another scholarship from the Grand Duke in 1832, which enabled him to study in Italy. He lived in Rome from 1832 to 1834, sharing a studio with his friend,
Franz Xaver Winterhalter, who was also from the
Black Forest region. He also spent some time in
Naples. In 1837, he left Italy and established himself in Vienna. By 1839 he was back in Furtwangen, and was appointed a
Court painter for the
Grand Duchy of Baden in
Karlsruhe. He moved there in 1842, and given an annual pension of 400
Gulden, on the condition that he provide at least one painting for the Grand Ducal gallery every two years. He was apparently unhappy there, as he went back to Munich in 1844, periodically requesting leave from his duties. In 1856, he became an honorary member of the Munich Academy. In 1865, he retired to his hometown, where he died the following year. His gravestone was designed by one of his relatives; the sculptor . A street in Freiburg's
Waldsee district has been named after him. ==Selected paintings==