Carl was born on 20 April 1820, the son of Christoph Wilhelm Haag and Barbara Weber at Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany. He was educated at the Academies of Nurnberg and Munich. After establishing a local reputation as an illustrator and portrait painter, he settled in England in 1847, gave up painting in oils, and devoted himself to water colour drawing, entering himself as a student at the Royal Academy.
He traveled extensively, and it was on one of his painting expeditions in Tirol in 1852 that he was found sketching by the Prince of Leiningen and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who were attracted by his work and gave him important commissions. In 1853 he was elected a full member of the Royal Water Colour Society, and a picture which he had painted for the Prince of Leiningen, Queen Victoria's half-brother, secured for him an invitation to Balmoral, where he painted, by command, two water-colours, "The Royal Family ascending Loch-na-gar" and "Evening at Balmoral Castle. The Stags brought Home," which were given by the Queen and Prince Albert as Christmas presents to each other.
Mr. Haag was deeply interested in antiquities, and restored the medieval Red Tower at Oberwesel-am-Rhine. On his arrival in England he became naturalized and when he was married in 1866 to Ida, only daughter of Herr Generalmajor Wilhelm Anton Büttner, he settled in Hampstead, where he built himself a large studio. It is interesting to note that he was an early member of the Artists Rifle Corps.
Carl and Ida returned to Germany and took up residence at Rother, Thurm, Oberwesel-am-Rhein, where they both lived to a ripe old age, Ida in her 80th year and Carl in his 95th year..
Ida Büttner 1832-1911
Ida Juliane Margarethe Luise Büttner
Ida was born on 17 September 1832, the only daughter of Herr Generalmajor Wilhelm Anton Büttner and Ernestine Stoltze, at Zelle, Hanover, Germany.
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