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Jakob Alt

1789 Frankfurt am Main – 1872 Vienna

The important landscape painter and water­colourist, Jakob Alt, was the founder of a famous family of painters in Vienna. He received his initial artistic training in his native city of Frankfurt and, in order to continue his studies, he moved in 1811 to Vienna, where he was to live and work until his death. Originally trained as a history painter at the Vienna Academy, Alt discovered his penchant for landscape painting at an early stage and perfected his skills in this field through private study. During his numerous travels through the Austrian Alps and the Danube region the artist steeped himself in studies after nature and, by doing so, discovered suitable motifs for his painting work. Journeys to Upper Italy between 1828 and 1833 and later on to Rome broadened his artistic horizon and considerably enriched his choice of subjects.