In expectation

In Expectation belongs to Leibl's mature rural figure subjects, depicting a waiting or anticipating female figure in a Bavarian domestic setting. The subject of waiting — a figure suspended between one state and another — interested many 19th-century painters because it allowed the depiction of intense interior states without narrative action. Leibl's approach differs from the sentimental treatment common in academic genre painting: his waiting figure is neither idealized nor dramatized but simply observed, her anticipation expressed through posture and the quality of her attention rather than theatrical gesture.

The still figure creates a compositional problem Leibl solves through lighting: the direction and quality of light falling on the waiting woman communicates the time of day and the setting's character, while her composed stillness is conveyed through the even, careful modeling of her face and hands.