Lot Essay
The present work, and following eight lots, span the artist's entire career and illustrate the breadth of his creative output. The strengths of his early work can be found in his portraits which are imbued with great theatricality while his mature works are bold exercises in colour and form. Trübner was one of the principal proponents behind a movement which followed in Gustave Courbet's footsteps by breaking with academic tradition and creating with, Wilhelm Leibl, amongst others, an avant-garde following which came to be known as 'reinen Malerei'.
U. Thieme and F. Becker lauded Trübner's importance to Germany's artistic development; 'Trübner must be considered one of the masters of German art, since in the history of the arts there has rarely been an example such as this; that an artist should have created 50 works before his 25th year which belong for all times to the foremost creations of a definitively historical and revolutionary epoch in German art.' (U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allegemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1939, vol. XXXIII, p. 448.)
U. Thieme and F. Becker lauded Trübner's importance to Germany's artistic development; 'Trübner must be considered one of the masters of German art, since in the history of the arts there has rarely been an example such as this; that an artist should have created 50 works before his 25th year which belong for all times to the foremost creations of a definitively historical and revolutionary epoch in German art.' (U. Thieme and F. Becker, Allegemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, Leipzig, 1939, vol. XXXIII, p. 448.)