Thomas Leitner, born in 1876, was an Austrian landscape painter who studied with Franz Rumpler at the Vienna Academy from 1893 to 1905. He painted in the style of mood painting, but also created works in natural symbolism. After finishing the academy, he went on study trips to Italy and Dalmatia. He won the Rome Prize and became a member of the Vienna Künstlerhaus in 1908. Here he often exhibited among others. During the First World War, he worked as a war painter in the Ortler area, in Eastern Galicia and in Capodistria. In 1911 he moved to Waidhofen an der Thaya, where he also received honorary citizenship. He died in Waidhofen an der Thaya in 1949.