Hans Thoma (2 October 1839 – 7 November 1924) was a German

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

Biography

Hans Thoma was born on 2 October 1839 in Bernau,

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

, in the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He was the son of a

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...

and was trained in the basics of painting by a painter of

clock face A clock face is the part of an analog clock (or watch) that displays time through the use of a flat dial (measurement), dial with reference marks, and revolving pointers turning on concentric shafts at the center, called hands. In its most basi ...

s. He entered the Karlsruhe Academy in 1859, where he studied under

Johann Wilhelm Schirmer Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (5 September 1807 in Jülich – 11 September 1863 in Karlsruhe) was a German landscape artist born in Jülich, within the Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian Duchy of Jülich. Biography Schirmer was started as a student of ...

and Ludwig des Coudres – the latter of which had a major influence on his career. Thoma also studied under

Hans Gude Hans Fredrik Gude (March 13, 1825August 17, 1903) was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters. He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Ro ...

, but rebelled against Gude's

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

. He subsequently studied and worked, with but indifferent success, in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, until his reputation became firmly established as the result of an exhibition of some thirty of his paintings in Munich. He died in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

in 1924 at the age of 85.

Style

In spite of his studies under various masters, his art has little in common with modern ideas, and is formed partly by his early impressions of the simple idyllic life of his native district, partly by his sympathy with the early German masters, particularly with

Albrecht Altdorfer Albrecht Altdorfer ( – 12 February 1538) was a German painter, engraver and architect of the Renaissance working in Regensburg, Bavaria. Along with Lucas Cranach the Elder and Wolf Huber he is regarded to be the main representative of the Da ...

and

Lucas Cranach the Elder Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...

. In his love of the details of nature, in his precise drawing of outline, and in his predilection for local coloring, he has distinct affinities with the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti ...

Works

Many of his pictures have found their way into two private collections in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. A portrait of the artist and two subject pictures, ''The Guardian of the Valley'' and ''Spring Idyll'' are at the

Galerie Neue Meister The (, ''New Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 300 paintings from the 19th century until today, including works from Otto Dix, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. The gallery also exhibits a number of sculpture ...

; ''Eve in Paradise'' and ''The Open Valley'' at the

Städel The Städel, officially the ''Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie'', is an art museum in Frankfurt, with one of the most important collections in Germany. The museum is located at the Museumsufer on the Sachsenhausen bank of t ...

. Other important pictures of his are ''Paradise'', ''Christ and Nicodemus'', ''The Flight into Egypt'', ''Charon'', ''Pietà'', ''Adam and Eve'', ''Solitude'', ''Tritons'', besides many landscapes and portraits. He also produced numerous

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s and pen drawings, and some decorative

mural painting A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

s, notably in a café at

, and in the music room of the

Alfred Pringsheim Alfred Pringsheim (2 September 1850 – 25 June 1941) was a German mathematician and patron of the arts. He was the father-in-law of the author and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann. Family and academic career Pringsheim was born in Ohlau, Prov ...

house in

. Thoma's artwork was favored by Nazis during the Third Reich 1933-1945 and he was listed among official painters. Artworks acquired for

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's planned

Führermuseum The ''Führermuseum'' or ''Fuhrer-Museum'' (English language, English: Leader's Museum), also referred to as the Linz art gallery, was an unrealized art museum within a cultural complex planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian ci ...

in Linz included ''Badende Jünglinge (bathing boys),'' looted from the Jewish collector Adolf Bensinger in 1939, and Blick auf Mamolsheim, looted from the Jewish collectors Martin and Florence Flersheim. Other artworks by Thoma that were acquired during the Nazi era from Jewish collectors include "Dusk at Lake Garda", looted from the Jewish collector Ottmar Strauss, "''Springtime in the Mountains/Children’s Dance''," sold under duress in 1938 by Hedwig Ullmann, ''Sinnendes Mädchen / Frau mit Schimmel (‘Pensive Girl/Women with White Horse''’) (Lost Art-ID 302432) looted from the Jewish art collector Smoschewer in 1939 and ''The Rhine at Säckingen in the Black Forest'' formerly owned by

Max Emden Max James Emden (28 October 1874 – 26 June 1940) was a German-born Swiss businessman, art collector, heir and ''Wiktionary:bon vivant, bon vivant''. He was the owner of the Brissago Islands on Lake Maggiore from 1926 until his death. Emden pr ...

. The German Lost Art Database lists several paintings by Thoma. File:Hans Thoma - Sonntagsfrieden.jpg, Sunday Peace File:Thoma Still life with a hare.jpg, Still life with a hare, pheasants and a lobster File:Hans Thoma - Der Kunstschriftsteller Conrad Fiedler.jpg, Portrait of Conrad Fiedler File:Hans Thoma - Die Berge von Carrara.jpg, The Mountains of Carrara File:Hans Thoma - Blick auf Mamolsheim.jpg, View of Mamolsheim File:Hans Thoma - Kinder mit Ziegenherde (1916).jpg, Children with a Herd of Goats File:Thoma Acht tanzende Frauen in Vogelkörpern 1886.jpg, Eight Dancing Maidens in Bird Costumes

References

External links

''German masters of the nineteenth century: paintings and drawings from the Federal Republic of Germany''
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Hans Thoma (nos. 91–95) {{DEFAULTSORT:Thoma, Hans 1839 births 1924 deaths People from Waldshut (district) People from the Grand Duchy of Baden 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists German male painters 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Academy of Fine Arts, Karlsruhe alumni