The 'Old Art and the 19th Century' auction took place at Lempertz in Cologne on November 18. Among the highlights was the painting Ein Kritiker ('A Critic'), representing the pivotal moment in 1869 when Wilhelm Leibl, at the age of 24, achieved his breakthrough as a painter.
Cologne-born, Leibl received his first painting lessons in his hometown along the Rhine. Later, at the age of 20, he relocated to the Isar and studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Munich, specifically in Carl Theodor von Piloty's masterclass in 1868. During that same year, Leibl captured a familiar scene that resonates with every artist: the visit of a critic to the studio, a moment marked by many hopes and fears.
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A Critic was one of the five paintings that Wilhelm Leibl presented at the 'I. International Art Exhibition in the Royal Glass Palace' in Munich the following year. Alongside Portrait of Mina Gideon (1869, Neue Pinakothek, Munich, listed as Portrait of Mrs. Gedon), it received the best reviews, marking a breakthrough for the painter. During the exhibition, Leibl met the French master of realism, Gustave Courbet, who extended an invitation to Paris and exerted a significant influence on Leibl's subsequent work.
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While the portrait of Mina Gideon accompanied him to Paris and was awarded a gold medal at the Salon, Leibl successfully sold his painting A Critic before the exhibition. Since then, the work has remained in private ownership in the Rhineland through succession and was presented for the first time at auction at Lempertz. Initially estimated at €200,000-250,000, A Critic ultimately fetched €419000 ($459,502), establishing a new record for Wilhelm Leibl.
