Johann Elias Grimmel (Иоганн Элиас Гриммель; 1703 - 1759) was a Bavarian-born artist and draughtsman who spent most of his career in St. Peterburg. After training in Vienna, he was invited by Jacob von Stäehlin (Я́коб Ште́лин; 1709 - 1785), an engraver and cartographer also from Bavaria, to work in St Petersburg. Stäehlin had been deeply involved with the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (Петербургская академия наук) in its early years and helped Grimmel fill the seat vacated by the Italian artist Bartolomeo Tarsia (Бартоломео Та́рсия; 1690 - 1765) in the Academy's Drawing Chamber (Рисовальной палате). Grimmel continued to work with Stäehlin, producing works in several media, and trained Russian artists, including mosaicists Matvei Vasilievich Vasiliev (Матвей Васильевич Васильев ; 1731 - 1782) and Efim Tikhonovich Melnikov (Ефим Тихонович Мельников; 1734 - 1767).