Franz Xaver Schwanthaler, born in 1799 in Ried im Innviertel, Austria, was a sculptor who trained in his father's workshop before working with his uncle Franz Jakob Schwanthaler and later his cousin Ludwig Schwanthaler in Munich. He played an important role in executing many works produced in their workshop. He also taught at the Städtische Feiertagsschule and Königliche Baugewerksschule in Munich.
Despite being a key figure in his cousin's flourishing studio, Franz Xaver Schwanthaler also created his own works, including decorative and figurative works for the Munich Residenz and the Court Theatre, and the busts of Friedrich I. Barbarossa and Kaiser Karl V. for Walhalla. He crafted a statue of Christ for the Weingarten Monastery and, after Ludwig Schwanthaler's death in 1848, completed the gable decoration and reliefs for the Propyläen in Munich.
He rests in a tomb he designed for his cousin Ludwig Schwanthaler, located in the Old Southern Cemetery in Munich.