Wilhelm Gail

WILHELM GAIL (Munich, 1804-1890).
"A Stop at the Inn of José Nuero", Andalusia, 1834.
Oil on canvas. Re-coloured.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 50 x 65 cm; 75 x 90 cm (frame).
Wilhelm Gail, painter of Munich, was one of the first German artists of the 19th century to explore Spain. During his stay there from 1832 to 1833, he was inspired to create numerous paintings and graphics illustrating the mosques, cathedrals, bullfights and people of this country. He exhibited five of his Spanish paintings at the Munich Academy in 1834, where they were praised by the Bavarian King Ludwig I, who bought a view of the Great Mosque of Cordoba for the Neue Pinakothek in 1836. Gail continued to use her travel sketches of the Alhambra and Cordoba as the basis for oil paintings well into the 1840s.
In accordance with her father's wishes, Gail first studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich after secondary school, but then turned to painting. After completing her studies, she took further lessons in the studio of her brother-in-law, the painter Peter von Hess. During this time, she created a series of landscapes in which she depicted the fauna and customs of her native land. Gail travelled to Italy in 1825 at the invitation of Baron von Malzen, the Bavarian royal chargé d'affaires at the court of Sardinia. There he created several architectural paintings and genre pieces which were published under the titles "Monuments romains dans les états de sardaigne" and "Scènes populaires de Genova". After his return to Munich, Gail processed his memories into numerous pictures of buildings, e.g. the ancient aqueduct in Campagna, the cloister courtyard in Viterbo, which quickly made him popular. In 1830, Gail made a study trip to Paris. After the outbreak of the July Revolution, he moved to Chartres. Further study trips to Italy and Spain followed.