Hans Wilt 

Biography of Hans Wilt  ( 1867-1917 )

Hans Wilt was an Austrian painter born in 1867 and died in Vienna in 1917.

He studied from 1886 to 1891 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, and the following year was awarded an honorary diploma at the World Exhibition in Dresden. Following this minor success, he was awarded a scholarship by the Academy, enabling him to study in Rome for two years, from 1893 to 1894. His eye was trained on ancient architecture and sculpture, as well as on the Italian masters of the Renaissance.

From an academic point of view, he took part in the Vienna World's Fairs from 1890 to 1899, and won the bronze medal at the Paris World's Fair in 1900. He then moved to the Netherlands, where he worked until 1910.

In 1904, he exhibited three works at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a world's fair held in St. Louis, Missouri, the great railway town of the time. Organized to mark the centenary of the Louisiana Purchase, it attracted over 19 million visitors. This enabled the Viennese painter to win a definite clientele and develop his reputation.

Hans Wilt is known for his seascapes and landscapes, but also for his city scenes, depicting markets, Viennese squares, parks, cathedral views and genre scenes in urban landscapes, offering a gentle testimony of contemporary life in Vienna and the Netherlands.