Wilhelm Leibl, in full Maria Hubertus Leibl, was a German painter of portraits and genre scenes who was one of the most important German Realists of the late 19th century. An influential contributor to 19th century German art, Wilhelm Leibl was a prominent exponent of figure painting associated with German Naturalism.
Background
Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl was born on October 23, 1844, in Cologne, where his father was the director of the Cathedral choir. He was the fifth of six children of Carl Leibl and his wife Maria Gertrud Lemper. Grandparents were Karl Ferdinand Leibl and Maria Regina Theresia Wagner from Landau.
Education
In 1861 at the age of 17 began his arts training under Hermann Becker, a local art teacher. In 1864 he enrolled at the Munich Academy of Art, where he studied under several artists including Avon Ramberg and Karl Theodor von Piloty.
In 1869 Wilhelm Leibl established a group studio, along with three other young painters, Theodor Alt, Johann Sperl, and Rudolf Hirth du Frenes. It was during this time that Gustave Courbet, a major figure in mid-19th century French painting, came to Munich to exhibit his work, making a powerful impact on the local artists with his demonstrations of alla prima plein air painting. After studying Courbet's method, Leibl's paintings, which up to now had been inspired by 17th century Dutch Realist artists, became looser in both brushwork and composition, their subjects depicted with impastoed paint against dark backgrounds.
In 1870, Leibl traveled to Paris to work alongside Courbet, and stayed for 9 months, during which time he met the influential painter Edouard Manet, who had already become the mentor of Impressionist painters like Monet and Renoir. As it was, his stay was interrupted by the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war, which necessitated his return to Munich.
Leibl remained in Munich for three years before living in a succession of rural communities in the Bavarian countryside: first at Berbling, 1878 – 1881; then Aibling 1881 – 1892; finally Kutterling 1892 – 1900. In Berbling, he painted what is probably his best-known work, the "Three Women in Church" (1881, Kunsthalle, Hamburg). Its vividly realist style is reminiscent of works by the great portraitist Hans Holbein in its clarity and definition. Indeed, the period 1870 - 1880 is known as his "Holbein period."
In contrast to the Romanticism then prevalent in Germany, Leibl employed a dispassionate style of painting in the manner of Courbet, depicting his peasant neighbours without sentimentality or anecdote. His usual practice was to paint directly onto the canvas without any preliminary sketching, and his unwavering commitment to painting people just as they were, earned him significant recognition in his lifetime, as well as a group of dedicated followers (known as the Leibl Circle) that included Hans Thoma, Wilhelm Trubner, Carl Schuch and Otto Scholderer.
In addition to his oil painting, Leibl completed a small number of etchings in a characteristically precise style. He also produced a quantity of high-class charcoal drawings, as well as chalk and pencil drawings. Leibl continued working up to his death in Wurzburg, at the age of 56. Paintings and sketches by Wilhelm Leibl can be seen in several of the world's best art museums, notably the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne and the Pinakothek Museum, Munich.