Eduard Willmann’s etching “In Spring” is a reproduction of Ludwig Knaus’s 1857 painting “A Girl in a Field”, one of the most famous works by the German realist master. The original painting is held in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Ludwig Knaus (October 5, 1829 — December 7, 1910) was a leading figure in 19th-century German realism and one of Europe’s foremost genre and portrait painters. His works are distinguished by lifelike immediacy, psychological subtlety, warm color palettes, and masterful draftsmanship.
Knaus entered the Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts in 1845. Though a gifted student, he soon grew disillusioned with the academic focus on historical and religious subjects. He left the academy in 1848 — before completing his studies — to pursue independent work, supporting himself with portraits and scenes of everyday life. Extensive travels across Germany deepened his knowledge of rural customs and traditional dress, which became central to his oeuvre.
Knaus enjoyed remarkable success during his lifetime: he was elected to nearly every major European academy, including the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1861), and his works were consistently praised at international exhibitions. By the end of his life, he had amassed considerable wealth.
Russian artists held Knaus in high esteem. Arkhip Kuindzhi, for instance, named him — with his contemporary Benjamin Vautier — as one of the two greatest representatives of the Düsseldorf School.
Art critic Andrey Ivanovich Somov described Knaus’s art as follows,
“Knaus’s works testify to his keen powers of observation, his skill in conveying the character and inner emotional life of people of all ages and social conditions, and his ability to create scenes imbued with vital truth — now with good-natured humor, now with cheerful merriment, now with profound feeling. The merit of his paintings is further enhanced by his superb draftsmanship, brilliant coloration, and masterful execution.”
Knaus’s favorite subjects were peasants and the urban poor, especially children and young people, whom he portrayed with rare tenderness. Many of his paintings achieved wide popularity through high-quality engravings and reproductions — Eduard Willmann’s “In Spring”, held in the Irbit State Museum of Fine Arts, is a prime example.
Eduard Willmann (November 21, 1820 — November 11, 1877) was a German painter and engraver, trained under Carl Ludwig Frommel. He worked in Darmstadt, London, and Paris. In 1860, he received a gold medal at the Paris Exposition for his print “View of Paris”; three years later, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor. From 1870 until his death, he served as court engraver and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe.
