Johann Sperl
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Johann Sperl (3 November 1840 – 29 July 1914 in Bad Aibling, Upper Bavaria) was a German painter.
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[edit] Life
Johann Spern was born near Fürth in 1840 as an only child of protestant parents. His father worked as a agricultural day laborer in the summer and as a wood worker in the winter. His mother worked as a house keeper. The family lived in the next-door house of a homestead. Sperl was born under the name Spörl.
[edit] School years
In 1846 Sperl started atending school from which he graduated from in 1854 as class winner. Through help from the local pastor Sperl was able to get an apprenticeship as a colorist.
In 1856 Sperl's father died. He became the sole provider of his sick mother and started an apprenticeship to become a lithographer.
In winter of 1858/59 Sperl fulfilled his wish of attending drawing courses at Nürnberger Kunstgewerbeschule. At this time the Kunstgewerbeschule was led by August von Kreling, a versatile history painter and sculptor. He met the painters Rudolf Hirth du Frênes and Theodor Alt there. They met again in 1865 in Munich and later all became members of the Leibl-Circle. He became director of a lithographic institution in 1863
[edit] Time at the academy in Munich
Sperl gave up his position as a director in spring auf 1865 after he had earned enough money to attend the academy in Munich. He joined the painting class of history painter Hermann Anschütz. In 1865 he met Wilhelm Leibl for the first time which led to a lifelong friendship between the two.
Sperl attended the master class of Karl von Piloty a history painter that known widely even outside of Munich and whose pupils included Hans Makart, Franz von Lenbach, Eduard von Grützner, Franz Defregger and Gabriel von Max amongst others.
[edit] Study period with Ramberg
In the spring of 1866 Arthur von Ramberg was called from Vienna to Munich and took over the master class in Munich. Since Sperl had a genial relationship with Ramberg he continued to be his pupil and only left the academy after Ramberg's death in 1875.
Even though Sperl was a member of the Leibl-Circle his education Ramberg remained the top priority for Sperl. He started to be able to paint more demanding composition at the beginning of the 1870s. From 1875 onwards Sperl changed from mainly painting big image formats with many figures to smaller compositions.
In 1878 he and Wilhelm Leibl moved to Berbling and in December of 1878 Max Liebermann moved from Venice to Munich. Sperl met Liebermann sometime in 1879 most likely through Leibl. At the beginning of the 1880s Sperl started to get more and more involved with Landscape art.
[edit] Last years
In winter of 1882 Sperl moved to Kraiburg which was recommended to him by frieds for it's location. In 1883 Sperl moved to Willhelm Leibl's new studio in Bad Aibling. In May of 1899 Sperl visited Italy, he visited Florence, Siena and Venice. On the hot spring day of May 24 1910 Sperl collapsed while painting on a blooming meadow. He suffered a stroke which led to a partial paralysis of the right side of his body. On July 23 1914, a few days before the outbreak of World War I, Sperl died. His last wish was to be buried next to his firend Wilhelm Leibl on the same graveyard in Würzburg.
[edit] References
- Eugen Diem: Johann Sperl. Ein Meister aus dem Leiblkreis. Bruckmann, München 1955.
