Johann Matthias Gesner was born on the 9th of April 1691 at Roth an der Rednitz. His father died in 1704 leaving the family with very little money before his mother remarried a supportive man named Johann Zuckermantel.
Johann Matthias Gesner served as librarian and vice-principal at Weimar starting in 1715 and later became rector of the gymnasium at Ansbach in 1729. He eventually moved to Göttingen where he became Professor of Poetry and Eloquence in 1734 while also serving as librarian there.
Johann Matthias Gesner became good friends with Johann Sebastian Bach during their time together in Weimar in 1715. Bach dedicated his Canon a 2 perpetuus BWV 1075 to Gesner as proof of their bond before Gesner left for other positions.
Johann Matthias Gesner founded the Deutsche Gesellschaft in 1738 after becoming familiar with similar organizations in Leipzig to advance German literature during the Enlightenment era. The society sought to elevate German language usage alongside Latin and Greek studies representing a shift toward national literary identity.
The Novus Linguae et Eruditionis Romanae Thesaurus released in 1747 provided foundational examples for Baumgarten's Aesthetics published in 1750 and influenced Lessing's Laocoön. This work became a foundational reference for eighteenth-century aesthetic theory and classical scholarship ensuring Gesner's legacy endured long after his death on the 3rd of August 1761.