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
Bulgarian lands across the Danube Bulgarian lands across the Danube In the Middle Ages the Bulgarian Empire controlled vast areas to the north of the river Danube (with interruptions) from its establishment in 681 to its fragmentation in 1371-1422. These lands were called by contemporary Byzantine historians "Bulgaria across the Danube". Original information for the centuries-old Bulgarian rule there is scarce as the archives of the Bulgarian rulers were destroyed and little is mentioned for this area in Byzantine or Hungarian manuscripts. After the disintegration of Great Bulgaria following Khan Kubrat's death in 668 a large group of Bulgars followed the third son of the