Franz Alt

arvis is a town situated in the province of Udine in north Italy. Until 1918 it belonged to Kärnten, a Canton in Austria, Franz Alts homecountry.

The Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), also known as the Lammergeier or Ossifrage, is a bird of prey and the only member of the genus Gypaetus. Traditionally considered an Old World vulture, it actually forms a minor lineage of Accipitridae together with the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), its closest living relative. It is not much more closely related to the Old World vultures proper than to, for example, hawks, and differs from the former by its feathered neck. Although dissimilar, the Egyptian and bearded vulture each have a lozenge-haped tail — unusual among birds of prey. In July 2014, the IUCN Red List has reassessed this species to be near threatened. Before July 2014, it was actually classed as Least Concern. Their population trend is decreasing. Only about 20 pairs are today registered in the Alps. The bearded vulture eats carrion and bone-marrow and lives and breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, the Caucasus, Africa and the Indian subcontinent, and Tibet.

Born in Vienna, Franz von Alt was the son of the painter Jakob van Alt (1789-1872) and brother to the painter Rudolf von Alt (1812-1905), both famous for their views from the Austria-Hungary empire commissioned by Emperor Ferdinand I. Accompanied by friends and patrons, such as Kázmér Miklós Esterházy de Galántha (1805-1870) and the famous writer Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916), Franz Alt travelled all over Europe and also visited Russia. His style is very similar of that of his brother, Rudolf. His watercolors became property of the imperial houses in Vienna, London, St. Petersburg and now belong to permanent collections of famous museums. For further reading see M.-L. Schuppanz, Franz Alt, Dissertation, Wien 1980.