Group of German and Austrian artists c. 1500–50, of which Albrecht Altdorfer (see ALTDORFER, (1)) and WOLFGANG HUBER were two of the central figures. The term came into use following an observation by Theodor von Frimmel (1853–1928) in 1892 that painting in the Danube region around Regensburg, Passau and Linz possessed certain common characteristics that entitled one to speak of a Danube style (Donaustil ). This point was taken up by Hermann Voss in Der Ursprung des Donaustils (Leipzig, 1907). Once the early, Viennese works (c. 1500–05) of Lucas Cranach the elder (see CRANACH, (1)) were recognized as having provided the formative stage of this stylistic development, the name Danube school (Donauschule) took deeper root. The name also carried associations of the regional landscape (Donaulandschaft) and of the art born of that region (Kunstlandschaft), evoking what critics saw as its nature-orientated quality. ‘Danube school’ and ‘Danube style’ established themselves as terms of reference too convenient to be dislodged, despite the demurs of many critics. The leading artists did not form a school in the usual sense of the term, since their communality derived from neither a single workshop nor even a particular centre, and the geographical limits of the school or style are even less precise. Nevertheless, continuing discussion over the idea of a Danube school has given de facto acknowledgement that it does exist as a stylistic phenomenon.

• Danube school
  • Austria, §III, 1(ii)(a): Gothic wall paintings
  • Austria, §III, 1(ii)(b): Gothic panel paintings
  • Austria, §IV, 2: Sculpture, c 1400–c 1600: Late Gothic and Renaissance
  • Germany, §III, 2(ii)(b): Renaissance painting and graphic arts: Work and influence of Dürer
  • Landscape painting, §II, 4: 16th century
  • Landscape painting, §II, 4(i): 16th century: Danube school
  • Prints, §II, 1(viii): Subject-matter, before c 1700: Landscape
  • Renaissance, §4(iii)(b): High Renaissance: Painting and graphic art in Germany
  • Vienna, §III, 1: Art life and organization, before c 1500
  • Vienna, §III, 2: Art life and organization, c 1500–c 1800
  • members
    • Altdorfer: (1) Albrecht Altdorfer
    • Breu: (1) Jörg Breu (i), §1: Early works in Austria, to 1502
    • Cranach: (1) Lucas Cranach I, §I, 1: Vienna, c 1501–4
    • Germany, §III, 2(ii)(d): Renaissance painting and graphic arts: Danube school
    • Huber, Wolfgang
    • Masters, anonymous, and monogrammists, §III: Master MZ