DOI Heft:
No. 81 (December, 1899)
DOI Artikel:Gronau, Georg: Wilhelm Leibl
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19783#0191
JVilhelm Leibl
these paintings are now in the Berlin National Gal- words. The artist had now arrived at that full
lery); and his Bauempolitiker, a group of peasants perfection of finish and execution of which Franen
intent on their newspapers. This picture was in der Kirche, on which the painter was engaged
bought in 1878 at the Paris Exhibition by Mr. for four years (1875-78), is a classical example,
Stewart for his celebrated collection, and sold with and with which, perhaps, may be compared only
it last year. Quite recently it was bought from a his Wildschutzen—called also Die Nelke, from the
private French owner by a collector at Berlin for fact that the girl is wearing a carnation on her
over ^4000, the highest price yet paid for the breast—a group of four or five half-length figures
work of a living German painter. At present it (exhibited in 1883 in Paris).
forms the clou of the Exhibition of the Berlin In order to understand the full significance of
Secession. This painting clearly exhibits Leibl's these paintings, one needs to have a distinct per-
transition period. Two of the figures are painted ception of a whole group of works which were
broadly, and look somewhat patchy; the others produced at that time in Germany, and have
are finished with such delicacy that every detail nothing in common with the pictures of Leibl but
might be looked at through a magnifying glass, the subject. The Tyrolese peasant had only just
while the perfect colouring cannot be expressed in been discovered, and painters were enthusiastic
about him. Every good
characteristic was centred
in him. He was strong,
good-natured, generous to
the extreme, and possessed
many other fine qualities.
If any one will take the
trouble to look through
the family journals of the
Seventies, particularly the
then all-powerful " Garten-
laube," he will be as-
tonished to find how many
novels and stories were
located in the Tyrol and
amongst its inhabitants.
We all know they were
caricatures of the actual
conditions prevailing; that
facts were manipulated in
a shocking manner, to suit
the taste of the city Phili-
stines ; that the truth was
hidden, and that the shady
side of Tyrolese life was
not understood; nor was
there a desire to see it as
it really was. There was
the same tendency in paint-
ing. Tyrolese pictures
were to be found in every
exhibition, with spick-and-
span girls and youths in
" '"prettiness of type which
A BAVARIAN PEASANT GIRL" BY WILHELM LEIBL P^S for handSOmeneSS
(By permission of S. Seeger, Esq.) with the average man.
168
1
these paintings are now in the Berlin National Gal- words. The artist had now arrived at that full
lery); and his Bauempolitiker, a group of peasants perfection of finish and execution of which Franen
intent on their newspapers. This picture was in der Kirche, on which the painter was engaged
bought in 1878 at the Paris Exhibition by Mr. for four years (1875-78), is a classical example,
Stewart for his celebrated collection, and sold with and with which, perhaps, may be compared only
it last year. Quite recently it was bought from a his Wildschutzen—called also Die Nelke, from the
private French owner by a collector at Berlin for fact that the girl is wearing a carnation on her
over ^4000, the highest price yet paid for the breast—a group of four or five half-length figures
work of a living German painter. At present it (exhibited in 1883 in Paris).
forms the clou of the Exhibition of the Berlin In order to understand the full significance of
Secession. This painting clearly exhibits Leibl's these paintings, one needs to have a distinct per-
transition period. Two of the figures are painted ception of a whole group of works which were
broadly, and look somewhat patchy; the others produced at that time in Germany, and have
are finished with such delicacy that every detail nothing in common with the pictures of Leibl but
might be looked at through a magnifying glass, the subject. The Tyrolese peasant had only just
while the perfect colouring cannot be expressed in been discovered, and painters were enthusiastic
about him. Every good
characteristic was centred
in him. He was strong,
good-natured, generous to
the extreme, and possessed
many other fine qualities.
If any one will take the
trouble to look through
the family journals of the
Seventies, particularly the
then all-powerful " Garten-
laube," he will be as-
tonished to find how many
novels and stories were
located in the Tyrol and
amongst its inhabitants.
We all know they were
caricatures of the actual
conditions prevailing; that
facts were manipulated in
a shocking manner, to suit
the taste of the city Phili-
stines ; that the truth was
hidden, and that the shady
side of Tyrolese life was
not understood; nor was
there a desire to see it as
it really was. There was
the same tendency in paint-
ing. Tyrolese pictures
were to be found in every
exhibition, with spick-and-
span girls and youths in
" '"prettiness of type which
A BAVARIAN PEASANT GIRL" BY WILHELM LEIBL P^S for handSOmeneSS
(By permission of S. Seeger, Esq.) with the average man.
168
1