Danube school time. Among its members were: Lucas Cranach the Elder was a major influence on, and is occasionally considered a member of, the Danube school. Danube school The Danube School or Donau School (German: "Donauschule" or "Donaustil") was a circle of painters of the first third of the 16th century in Bavaria and Austria (mainly along the Danube valley). Many also were innovative printmakers, usually in etching. They were among the first painters to regularly use pure landscape painting, and their figures, influenced by Matthias Grünewald, are often highly expressive, if not expressionist. They show little Italian influence, and also represent
Danube Swabians well. Many German words used by speakers of Danube Swabian dialects may sound archaic. To the ear of a Standard German speaker, the Danube Swabian dialect sounds like what it is: a mix of southwestern German dialects from the 18th century with many strange words from other languages. Due to relative isolation and differing proximities to nearby German speakers (Austrians and Transylvanian Saxons), the language varies considerably, with speakers able to distinguish inhabitants of neighboring villages by the words they use for such things as marmalade ("Leckwaar" and "Schleckle" being two variants), or by how many (usually Hungarian) loanwords they