Josef Thoma

JOSEF THOMA (Vienna, 1828-1899)
"Landscape with Ruins," 1877.
Signed in the lower right corner
Measurements: 71 x 53 cm; 100 x 83 cm (frame).
Josef Thoma, son of Josef Thoma senior (Vienna 1800-?) was born on September 28, 1828 in Vienna. He probably received training from his father before completing his studies at the Vienna Academy. After completing his training, he established himself as a landscape painter in the Austrian capital. The most frequent motifs in his paintings, watercolors and drawings were alpine landscapes, usually Zillerstal, 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 skillfully manipulated light, as well as large natural spaces depicted with poetry and striking verism. Also sensitive to the Orientalist movement, he painted some foreign landscapes, most often Constantinople and its surroundings.