Johann Gottfried Steffan

[1] After his apprenticeship as a lithographer in his home town, Steffan travelled to Munich in 1833, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts[1] under Peter von Cornelius.

[citation needed] Under the influence of Carl Rottmann, he turned to realistic landscape art.

[1] He made several study trips to the Swiss Alps,[1] especially to the Canton of Glarus and to Lake Walen.

Steffan's paintings mostly are idealistic landscapes of the Munich School[citation needed] and often show mountain motifs.

[1] Franz Zelger, in his entry in Grove Art Online, describes him as an "outstanding and sensitive observer of nature" although notes "his manner was often slick and conventional".