Alois Schram's father was a councilor for the postal service. From 1879 to 1888, he studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. His primary instructors there were
Carl Wurzinger,
Hans Makart and
Josef Matyáš Trenkwald. Schram was awarded the for
Composition (1881), and the Spezialschulpreis (1887, for a scene from the life of
Bianca Cappello, now at the
Denver Art Museum). After graduating, he was granted the Staatspreisstipendium (1890/1891), a scholarship that enabled him to continue his studies in Rome. When Schram returned, he worked as a portrait and decorative painter in Vienna. During the 1890s, he visited several other European and Middle Eastern countries. From 1909 to 1911, Schram created allegorical
friezes in the
Austrian Parliament Building. In 1915, he did a series of ceiling paintings in the ballroom of the
Hofburg. Outside of Vienna, he worked at the Palazzo Vivante in
Trieste and the judicial building in
Salzburg. For much of his career, Schram was a member of the (Künstlerhaus). The proceeds from the sale of his estate were given entirely to them, as per his will, to create a fund for the promotion of aspiring artists. Schram was interred at the
Zentralfriedhof. ==References==