Johann Matthias Ranftl Die Falle 1853

Johann Matthias Ranftl (1805–1854) rose to prominence for his remarkably realistic paintings of dogs, to which he owed his nickname “Raffael the Dog”. The painter and lithographer Johann Matthias Ranftl enrolled at the Vienna University of Applied Arts in 1817, where he was taught by Johann Baptist Lampi and Anton Petter. He travelled to Switzerland on a study trip in 1819, and from there to Germany. Inspired by his new impressions, he turned increasingly to landscape painting.