Born on 12 September 1816, in St. Veit an der Glan, Prinzhofer came from a long-established Carinthian family. He studied law in Vienna and Padua. He worked in a civil court in Vienna from 1844 onwards as well as a simultaneous and successful career as a portraitist, until in 1854 he gave up the law to devote himself entirely to portraiture.
Prinzhofer was one of the artists who led to the flowering of photolithography in Vienna from 1830 to 1860. Others included Joseph Kriehuber, Franz Eybl and Eduard Kaiser. His lithographs included more than 500 portraits (of subjects including Hector Berlioz, Ludwig von Benedek, Ignaz Franz Castelli, Archduke John of Austria, Lajos Kossuth, Albert Lortzing, Alois Negrelli, pope Pius IX, Johann Ladislaus Pyrker and Johann Nestroy). In 1861, Prinzhofer moved to Graz and dedicated himself solely to oil-on-canvas portraits and watercolour miniatures.
