Uhde was born in Wolkenburg, Saxony. His family, moderately wealthy civil servants, had artistic interests. His father was actually a part-time painter and his maternal grandfather was director of the general director of the Royal Museums in Dresden.
Uhde found art appealing while studying at the Gymnasium at this city, and in 1866 he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden. Totally at variance with the spirit prevailing there, later that year he left his studies to join the army.
In 1877 he again turned his attention to art, studying under Munkacsy in Paris and afterwards independently in Holland. His inclination was from the first directed towards religious subjects. He revived the practice of treating Biblical episodes realistically by transferring them to modern days. Thus in the " Come, Lord Jesus, be our Guest, " of the Berlin National Gallery, Christ appears among the peasant family assembled for their meal in a modern German farmhouse " parlour, " and in " The Sermon on the Mount " (Berlin, private collection) addresses a crowd of 19th century harvesters. Similar in conception are " Suffer Little Children to come unto Me " (Leipzig Museum), " The Holy Night " (Dresden Gallery), " The Last Supper, " " The Journey to Bethlehem " (Munich Pinakothek) and " The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. " Other works of his in public collections are: " Saying Grace, " at the Luxembourg in Paris; " Christ at Emmaus, " at the Staedel Institute, Frankfort; "The Farewell of Tobias, " at the Liechtenstein Gallery, Vienna; and a portrait ol the actor Wohlmuth, at the Christiania Museum. Von Uhde became professor and honorary member of the academies of Munich, Dresden and Berlin.
Quotations:
"Before commencing this work I had begun to realize how children follow the Spirit. "
"Rather than just a depiction of nature, I searched for something like soul. I was occupied with painting children, studying them was more rewarding to me than studying adults at that time. I also wanted to give more to the children. "
