After finishing his studies he settled in Vienna. As a young painter he became surprisingly successful. His earliest works were three paintings for the Austrian Mint, several life-sized portraits of the royal pair and aristocrats and also some paintings with religious thematic. Unfortunately the most are unknown, but one of them, a life-size portrait of Joseph II from 1781 can be currently found in the collection of the Louvre Museum.[2] His oldest known painting is from 1774 of an unknown nobleman and it is today in Ptuj Castle (Ptuj, Slovenia).[1] The positioning of the model, a slightly pivoting strain and the light-shadow play on the face are all following the traditions of the Baroque portrait painting. Four years later, in 1778, was the portrait of Maria Theresa in mourning dress completed. It shows the empress, unlike the representative Baroque royal portraits, in natural environment without emperor symbols. She sits with a classicist vase and a little Putto-sculpture in her decorated garden on a stone bank heading to the viewers. A typical work of the Enlightenment, free from the Baroque motions and emotions. Reserved residence[clarification needed] characterizes her. It is a typical topic in the era after the death of her husband, Francis I.
After moving to Pest in 1810 he painted some of his most noted classicist portraits such as Ferenc Kazinczy in 1812 and Benedek Virág in 1815.[3]
He was also noted for his compositions such as Resting Venus, Orfeus and Euridike, and Proserpina which were paintings of mythological creatures painted after English copper engravings.
Donát's first wife was Theresia Rössler (1745–1802).[6] In 1809 Donát married Susanna Rieger (30 August 1784 – 27 September 1849), a mulatto 40 years younger than him. Kazinczy called her Marie in his letters to Donát. According to Kazinczy, she was the illegitimate daughter of Carl, the prince of Lichtenstein.[7]
