Adalbert Stifter (1805-68) was an Austrian writer, painter and tutor to the Viennese aristocracy. Informally part of the so-called Biedermeier movement in German-language literature, he has been celebrated by writers including Rilke, Hofmannsthal, Mann, Hesse, Auden and Sebald, and is particularly famed for his vivid descriptions of natural landscapes in his literary work.