Wilhelm Leibl - Sleeping Savoyard Boy [1869]

Wilhelm Leibl - Sleeping Savoyard Boy [1869], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Wilhelm Leibl (Cologne, October 23, 1844 – Wurzburg, December 4, 1900) was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes from peasant life. Living among peasants, he depicted his neighbours in everyday scenes devoid of sentimentality or anecdote. The sketch like quality of his painting was replaced by greater precision and attention to drawing. Leibl painted with no preliminary drawing, setting to work directly with colour, an approach that has parallels to Impressionism. His commitment to the representation of reality as the eye sees it earned him recognition in his lifetime as the pre-eminent artist of a group known as the Leibl-Kreis. He executed a small number of etchings in a meticulous style. His charcoal drawings are conceived in great masses of light and shadow, blocked in as though he were using a brush and paint. 

[Oil on canvas, 44 x 64 cm]