Franz Heinrich Corinth, the Artist’s Father

Lovis Corinth returned to the subject of his father in this 1888 portrait, evidently made during a visit home to East Prussia. The two paternal portraits of 1887 and 1888 form an important biographical and artistic document — a young artist using his father as the subject of intensive portraiture study, building his technical command through close observation of a beloved but physically imposing subject. The Saint Louis Art Museum version, painted a year after the Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie version, shows development in Corinth's handling and a deepening psychological engagement with his sitter.

This second portrait of the elder Corinth shows more confident handling than the first — a freer, more direct attack on the figure, with the face built in bolder, more decisive strokes. The palette remains relatively dark, but Corinth uses light more dramatically to model the form, anticipating the tonal contrasts of his mature work.