Wilhelm Leibl

Wilhelm Maria Hubert Leibl was born in Cologne in 1844. He began to train as a locksmith, but his talent for drawing was soon recognised. He then applied to Munich’s art academy, the Akademie der bildenden Künste, and was immediately accepted. A group of artists soon formed around him that would later become known as the Leibl Circle. In 1869 Leibl exhibited his first major work in Munich’s Glaspalast: the Portrait of Frau Gedon. He then moved to Paris and showed the same picture at the Salon, but was unable to capitalise on his success, for the Franco-Prussian War broke out the following year. Back in Munich he revived the Leibl Circle. Inspired by his impressions of the work of Parisian artists, many of the circle’s works were done in the spirit of Impressionism, without exactly imitating it. In 1873 Leibl moved to the country, and the circle fell apart. After additional moves he died in 1900 in Würzburg.