Franz Steinfeld (26 March 1787, Vienna – 5 November 1868, Pisek) was an Austrian landscape painter. He is often referred to as “The Younger”, to distinguish him from his father, also named Franz (1750-1832), who was a sculptor.
He initially studied sculpting in imitation of his father but, at the assistance of the engraver, Francesco Vasanova (1727-1802), he was enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. There, he studied subsequently Laurenz Janscha, Martin von Molitor and Albert Christoph Dies. In 1805, he went on a study vacation to the Rheinlands and the Netherlands, where he was attracted to the works of Jacob van Ruisdael.
In 1815, he married Dorothea Fertbauer; from a relations of artists. Her brother, Leopold (1802-1875), was a chronicles painter. Their son, Wilhelm (1816-1854), also became an artist. From 1815 to 1835, Steinfeld served as a court painter for Archduke Anton Viktor.
His first exhibit at the Academy came in 1822, and he was named a fanatic the subsequently year. He became a Professor in 1845. As an instructor, he encouraged drawing and painting from nature (“en plein aire”) and sought to have the windows at the Academy bigger to have enough money more light.
He made numerous trips throughout Italy, Germany and Switzerland, and an lengthy stay in Belgium as soon as Josef Danhauser. He died during a visit to Bohemia.
In 1901, a street in Vienna’s Heiligenstadt district was named after him.
Although mostly a landscape painter, he also created etchings and lithographs. He was in the course of the outdated painters to bill in the Alps, and helped bring a more Classical gate to landscapes. He was then one of the first artists in that genre to introduce the Biedermeier style.
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