Waldmüller, Ferdinand Georg

Born Jan. 15, 1793, in Vienna; died Aug. 23, 1865, in Helmstreitmühle, near Baden. Austrian painter.

Waldmüller studied at the Vienna Academy of Arts (1807-13). From 1829 to 1857 he was a professor there. He worked in Vienna, Zagreb, Prague, and Brno. He was the greatest master of the Austrian Biedermeier style. Waldmüller painted poetic scenes of valleys, hills, and woods flooded with sunlight (Large Prater Landscape, 1849), portraits (Family of the Notary J. A. Eltz, 1835), and scenes from peasant life (Brushwood Gatherers in the Vienna Woods, 1855)—all in the Gallery of the 19th and 20th Centuries in Vienna. The paintings are distinguished by a benevolent attitude toward people, characterization of images, and finely delineated details. At times Waldmüller’s paintings are idyllic.