Der Trinker

Wilhelm Leibl (1844-1900), Der Trinker (Bildnis des Wirts Ravecker), etching, 1874 [signed and dated in the plate]. References: Gronau 4, Billeter 4ii (of vi); no edition size is known. In very good condition, the full sheet, printed on chine colle, on a heavy wove paper, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, the sheet 24 1/8 x 18 3/4 inches.

Provenance:

Dr. Leon and Hilda Kolb Educational Foundation, with their blindstamp verso; then given to:

The San Francisco Museum of Art, auctioned by them at Christie’s New York, 9/08.

A fine impression.

Der Trinker was later published by Der Sesellschaft fur Vervielfaltigende Kunst, Vienna in Die Radirung der Gegenwart in Europa und Norkamerika, a survey of contemporary etching edited by Richard Graul.

Leibl was born in Cologne and in 1861, at about age 17, began his first training with Hermann Becker, a local painter. He entered the Munich Academy in 1864, subsequently studying with several artists including Carl Theodor von Piloty. He set up a group studio in 1869. At about the same time, Gustave Courbet visited Munich to exhibit his work, making a considerable impression on many of the local artists. Later in 1869, Leibl went to Paris for a nine month stay during which he met Édouard Manet.

Upon his return to Germany, Leibl lived in Munich until 1873, when he moved to the isolated Bavarian countryside. Living among peasants, he depicted his neighbors in everyday scenes devoid of sentimentality or anecdote. The sketchlike quality of his painting was replaced by greater precision and attention to drawing. In this setting he also executed a small number of etchings in a meticulous style in which he evidences an obvious debt to the Dutch masters of etching including Van Ostade and, of course, Rembrandt.

Detail