son of court musician Christian Heinrich Hetsch
with painters Nicolas Guibal and Friedrich Harper at the Ducal Military Academy (Herzogliche Militarakademie) in Stuttgart which included the Academie des Arts (1771-80); with Joseph-Marie Vien in Paris (1780-82)
1780 –appointed Court Painter to Duke of Württemberg ( Stuttgart)
1783 – met Jacques-Louis David in Paris
1787 –honorary member of Accademia delle Belle Arti, Bologna
1787-1794 - professor at Karlsakademie, Stuttgart
1795 –Director of painting gallery at Ludwigsburg Palace (home of Dukes of Württemberg)
1801 – member, Prussian Academy of Arts
1808 – ennobled, retired as Court Painter
Paris (1780-82, 1783, 1808-10); Rome (1785-87, 1794-96, 1802-03)
Generosity Rewarding Genius, 1784 (Landesmuseum Württemberg, Stuttgart)
Departure of Regulus, 1803-04 (Landesmuseum Württemberg)
Ascension of Christ, 1808 (Landesmuseum Württemberg)
Fleischhauer, Werner. Philipp Friedrich Hetsch. Stuttgart: Matthaes, 1929 (in German)