Anton Zwengauer was born in 1810 in Munich, where he began to study at the academy at an early age. On wanderings through the Bavarian uplands he produced sketches and watercolours picturing landscapes populated by animals and other staffage figures that he then turned into marketable paintings. Around 1834 he first employed the motif of a sunset, for which he would subsequently become so famous that similar depictions came to be called “Zwengauers”. He also produced atmospheric paintings of other times of day. Zwengauer’s works are distinguished by a solemn serenity, a pleasant atmosphere and clear colours. The painter sold internationally, even in America. From 1853 to 1869 he worked in Schleissheim as a conservator in the Gemäldegalerie; he subsequently performed the same function at the Alte Pinakothek. Zwengauer died in Munich in 1884.
