Franz Alt

Biography

Franz Alt, like his brother Rudolf, received his first solid training as a craftsman in the painting workshop of his father Jakob Alt and later attended the Vienna Academy, where he studied with Leopold Kupelwieser and Josef Danhauser - initially in portraiture, later in landscapes. He created his first independent works in 1844 during a study trip with his father through Tyrol, Upper Italy and Switzerland. His most important work as a young artist was the watercolor album with views of Tarvis and the surrounding area, which he compiled in 1846 for Count Kázmér Esterházy, for whom he became a court painter of great esteem. Commissions of a similar kind followed, and the young artist spent weeks and months at the country estates of noble families. Franz Alt survived the turmoil of the Revolution at Stiebar Castle near Gresten in Lower Austria. In 1853 he accompanied Count Demblin on a long trip to Belgium and Holland. In the following years he traveled to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rome, Paris and London, where the royal family also purchased works. Again and again the artist was invited to capture manorial estates in his watercolors, and he often gave painting lessons to his aristocratic patrons. Another important patron was Archduke Ludwig Viktor, whom he accompanied to Spain and Portugal in 1867. In the 1860s and 1870s Franz Alt was more successful and more respected than his brother Rudolf, so that - although they also worked together on assignments such as the album "Vienna in the Year of the World Exhibition" - he received the more prestigious commissions for the Vienna World Exhibition. In 1869 he became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus. Franz Alt differed stylistically from his father Jakob and his brother Rudolf primarily in the impressionistic lightness of his paint application and the almost pastel-like soft surface that adheres to his sheets. The artist died highly respected in 1914 in his hometown Vienna.