[1] He entered the Karlsruhe Academy in 1859, where he studied under Johann Wilhelm Schirmer and Ludwig des Coudres – the latter of which had a major influence on his career.

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.

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.

[4] He also produced numerous lithographs and pen drawings, and some decorative mural paintings, notably in a café at Frankfurt, and in the music room of the Alfred Pringsheim house in Munich.

[7] 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,[8] "Springtime in the Mountains/Children’s Dance," sold under duress in 1938 by Hedwig Ullmann,[9] Sinnendes Mädchen / Frau mit Schimmel (‘Pensive Girl/Women with White Horse’) (Lost Art-ID 302432) looted from the Jewish art collector Smoschewer in 1939[10] and The Rhine at Säckingen in the Black Forest formerly owned by Max Emden.