Josef THOMA
 (Vienna, 1828 – Vienna, 1899)

 On the shores of a lake in the Austrian Alps

 Oil on canvas
 Signed and dated lower right
 53 x 80 cm
 1877

 Josef Thoma, son of Josef Thoma Sr. (Vienna 1800- ?) was born on September 28, 1828 in Vienna.

 He was probably trained by his father before completing his studies at the Vienna Academy. After completing his training, he set up as a landscape painter in the Austrian capital.

 The most frequent motifs of his paintings, watercolours and drawings were Alpine landscapes, usually from the Zillertal, Pustertal and Steyrtal. He was also well known for his cityscapes of Ischl and Salzburg.
 Clearly influenced by the Romantic movement and in particular by artists such as Eugène Delacroix or Caspar David Friedrich, Thoma knew how to paint a skillfully manipulated light as well as the large natural spaces rendered with poetry and striking verism.
 Also sensitive to the orientalist movement, he painted some foreign landscapes, most often Constantinople and its surroundings.

 He also worked under the pseudonym J. Gärtner.

 Josef Thoma died in Vienna on December 15, 1899.

 Museum : Vienna