Printmaker, draughtsman, and painter Johann Rudolf Fuessli (also: Johann Melchior Füssli) was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1677, the son of Johann Caspar Fuessli, a painter and writer, and Magdelena Stutz. He studied etching under Johannes Meyer in Zurich and engraving from the electoral court engraver Samuel Blesendorf in Berlin.

In 1697 he founded a workshop and publishing house in Zurich and became a member of the Zur Meise guild. Among his students was noted engraver David Herrliberger. Fuessli would become known for his scientific and botanical studies and for becoming a major contributor to scientific illustration of the Baroque period, specifically his 753 illistrations for Scheuchzer's "Physica sacra". 

Fuessli died in Zurch in 1736.