Art from the Biedermeier Era, which began with the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and ended with the revolutions of 1848, is generally associated with the increasing prominence and purchasing power—and conservative or sentimental taste—of the middle class.

This book presents a large number of artworks from the latter half of that period and beyond that offer a different perspective. Focusing on Austrian painters like Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Rudolf von Alt, and Friedrich von Amerling, as well artists from Northern Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, and Slovenia, including Giuseppe Tominz, József Borsos, Bedrich Havránek, and Francesco Hayez, it presents portraits, landscapes, and genre pictures that are far from typical of how we think of the art of that era. Changes to furniture design in the period are also addressed; the package as a whole greatly broadens our understanding of the diversity of art and its development in the Biedermeier years and beyond.