(Danzig [Gdan´sk] 1843–1914 Munich)
Grandmother’s stories, signed, inscribed Ad. Echtler, Paris, oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm, framed, (Rei)

Provenance:
sale, Hugo Ruef, Munich, 14 March 2013, lot 89;
Private Collection Germany.

As a child, Adolf Echtler moved from Danzig to Riga and then on to St. Petersburg, where he was taught by his father. Around 1860, he moved to Venice for health reasons and was educated as a genre painter at the Academy. Later, he studied in Vienna and Munich, where he was a pupil of the German painter and illustrator Wilhelm von Diez.
After getting married, the artist lived in Paris for nine years from 1877 onwards, where he exhibited his work at the Salon from 1879 to 1885. Echtler’s reputation as an outstanding genre painter led to his works being displayed at major German exhibitions in Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Düsseldorf, among others. His genre paintings often depict scenes from peasant life in Brittany and Venice, and were also widely distributed in the form of reproductions of all kinds.
Echtler’s works are always grippingly composed; the expression of his figures, their observation and representation are true and convincing; the colours are predominantly lively and bright. Two of his paintings were so outstanding that they piqued the interest of Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, who bought them for his collection.