Background
His father was a tax commissioner.
His father was a tax commissioner.
He is also known as "Josef Mathias von Trenkwald" and "Joseph Matthias Trenkwald". In 1852, he moved to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and illustrated the Book of Songs by Heinrich Heine. Foreign five years, from 1856 to 1861, he lived in Rome on a scholarship.
In 1865, he was appointed Director of the Academy in Prague and held that position until 1872, when he became a Professor at the Vienna Academy.
He is best known for his large canvases Leopold the Glorious enters Vienna on his return from the Cross campaign (1872), Thomas Munzer, King Enzo, et cetera In addition, Trenkwald created frescoes in several Vienna and Prague churches.
Together with Karel Svoboda and Antonín Lhota, he decorated the "Belvedere Queen Anne" (a royal summer palace) with scenes from Czechoslovakian history.