Matthäus Loder
Austrian, 1781–1828
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Matthäus (Matthias) Loder was an Austrian painter of the Biedermeier period.
Loder was a painter and illustrator. As a student at the Vienna Academy, he received his training under Hubert Maurer, Johann Baptist Lampi and Heinrich Friedrich Füger. He was drawn to the Alpine world from an early age. He did nature studies with his fellow student at the academy, Karl Ruß. He undertook study trips to the Schneeberg, to Upper Styria and to the Salzkammergut. For a long time he was the art master of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria in Parma (Italy). There he fell ill with tuberculosis and the local climate no longer allowed him to stay.
Archduchess Marie Louise thought that living in the Styrian countryside would improve his condition and arranged for Loder to become the chamber painter of Archduke John in 1816. He accompanied the archduke on his travels in the Alpine countries and also on many of his mountain tours. In the process, he created numerous watercolors and drawings in which he captured the Alpine landscape, the traditional costumes of the rural population and also the working world on the Styrian Erzberg and the Styrian iron industry. Above all, he also became an authentic chronicler of the archduke's encounters with Anna Plochl.
In 1823, he took up residence in Vordernberg. Loder created a glass window at the Brandhof near Mariazell, the archduke's country estate. Loder also accompanied the archduke on his spa visits to Bad Gastein. It was here that he created his last works: brush drawings on dark paper showing Johann and Anna in front of the Gastein waterfalls. Like many of his contemporaries, he died prematurely of tuberculosis. Matthäus Loder was buried in Vordernberg.