Franz Xaver Fux was born in 1744 in Mauerkirchen. He was the son of a linen weaver. In 1771, he married the daughter of Reiter, the Ried hospital beadle. He was thus able to take over his father-in-law's position. After the public hospital was closed, he was employed by the municipality of Ried in 1791. He was a keen observer and good at drawing. Fux first became known through the print versions of his work.

Copper engravers took his drawings as master copies for their printing plates. Augsburg copper engraver Franz Josef Gleich was one of them, producing this general view of Ried in 1790. The large engraving shows what Ried looked like at the end of the 18th century. Ried’s striking layout can be seen, with its string of four squares, the Kirchenplatz, Hauptplatz, Rossmarkt and the square now known as Stelzhamerplatz. But the Vormarkt to the west – formerly the linen weaving centre –, the street now known as Bahnhofstrasse, Hochfeld with the castle, the Capuchin abbey, and today’s Schärdinger Strasse can also be clearly identified.