Des Künstlers Vater, Domkapellmeister Karl Leibl

This early portrait of Leibl's father Karl, the Cathedral Kapellmeister in Cologne, was painted in 1866 when the artist was just twenty-three. It is a remarkable early achievement — the elder Leibl appears with the dignity appropriate to a professional musician and civic figure, rendered with a directness already characteristic of the son's approach. Karl Leibl's role as Kapellmeister meant he occupied a respected position in Cologne's cultural life, and his son's portrait of him has none of the self-conscious formality of academic portraiture. The Wallraf-Richartz-Museum holds the work as part of its collection of Cologne-connected artists.

The 1866 date makes this a student-era work, yet the tonal control already shows exceptional maturity. Leibl builds the face in warm mid-tones with darker accents at the eyes and mouth. The collar and jacket are rendered more broadly than the face — a hierarchy of attention that would characterize his mature portraits.