(Vienna 1826–1897 Krumpendorf)
By the Fountain in Taormina, signed A. Schönn, oil on canvas, 168 x 128 cm, framed

Exhibited:
Viennese Annual Exhibition, 1885.

Catalogued in:
Friedrich von Boetticher, Malerwerke des 19. Jahrhunderts, Hofheim am Taunus 1979, vol. II, 2, p. 638, no. 53.

The Austrian genre and history painter Alois Schönn began his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1846, but was conscripted into military service just a few years later during the turmoil of 1848. He returned to Vienna after the end of the war, where he recorded his impressions in his paintings, which gained rapid recognition. In 1850 he left Vienna and went to Paris, where he exhibited at the Paris Salon. Following a longer sojourn in Paris, he travelled extensively to Africa, the Orient, Turkey, Egypt, and Tunis.
He visited Sicily on his return journey and regularly travelled to Italy on study trips over the next few years. He mostly focused on depicting rural folk life and his lively depictions were much appreciated during his lifetime. "Schönn has a power of colour that few artists possess, and in recent years in particular he has made brilliant progress. He is a fine observer, his figures are real folk types, full of vigour and life, often lacking only that they breathe." (Constantin von Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, vol. 31, 1876, pp. 101-102)