According to Gotwals, "In May, 1796, Dies apparently eloped with a young girl to Salzburg." The following year he moved to Vienna, and lived there on the produce of his brush as a landscape painter, and on that of his pencil or graver as a draughtsman and etcher. He also taught landscape painting at the Imperial and Royal Academy, and later, in his final post, was gallery director to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II. During this time his physical condition grew worse, and he even lost the use of one of his hands.