Märchenstunde or The Fairy Tale. Walter Firle (German, 1859–1929). Oil on canvas.
Firle was a 19th-century German figurative painter. His works, often genre or religious scenes, depicted figures poised next to windows, with dramatic light sweeping over them. In one of his most celebrated works, The Fairy Tale, three children sit in golden light on a sofa, reading stories from an old book.
The Garfield Park Conservatory is a joy with lots of gorgeous flowers, and a grapefruit tree, and a room full of poinsettias and peppermint, and a ton of facts about cacti that I didn’t know. I want to go back tomorrow.
Maillard studied painting at the Kunstakademie Berlin, where he took over in 1899 as lecturer and was appointed later as professor of painting. He painted mainly portraits, landscapes and still lifes. His works were exhibited at the Großen Berliner Kunstausstellungen in 1906 and 1910 as well as at the exhibition of the Freien Secession in Berlin in 1914.
Woman Reading. Victor Gabriel Gilbert (French, 1847-1935).
Gilbert exhibited regularly at the Societe Artistes Français where he was awarded a silver medal in 1889 and towards the end of his career received the Bonnat prize in 1926. Gilbert had been elected Chevalier de Legion d’Honneur, as had his teacher Charles Busson, in 1897.
