Life

Johann Sperl was born (as Johann Spörl) in Buch

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 (now part of Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

, Middle Franconia

Middle Franconia

Middle Franconia is one of the three administrative regions of Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is in the west of Bavaria and adjoins the state of Baden-Württemberg...

) in 1840 as an only child of Protestant parents. His father worked as an agricultural day laborer in the summer and as a wood worker in the winter. His mother worked as a housekeeper. The family lived in the next-door house of a homestead.

School years

In 1846 Sperl started attending school from which he graduated in 1854 as class winner. The local pastor assisted Sperl in securing an apprenticeship as a colorist. With the death of his father in 1856, Sperl became the sole provider of his sick mother and started an apprenticeship to become a lithographer

Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...

.

In the winter of 1858–59 Sperl fulfilled his wish of attending drawing courses at Nürnberger Kunstgewerbeschule

Kunstgewerbeschule

A Kunstgewerbeschule was the old name for an advanced school of applied arts in German-speaking countries. The first such schools were opened in Kassel in 1867 and Berlin and Munich in 1868 with other German towns following. They are now merged into universities....

. At this time the Kunstgewerbeschule was led by August von Kreling

August von Kreling

August von Kreling German sculptor born in Osnabrück. He studied with Cornelius and in 1853, became director of the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg...

, a versatile history painter

History painting

History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...

 and sculptor

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

. Sperl met the painters Rudolf Hirth du Frênes and Theodor Alt there. In 1865 the three artists met again in Munich and subsequently became members of the Leibl-Circle. He became director of a lithographic institution in 1863.

Time at the academy in Munich

Sperl gave up his position as a director in the spring of 1865 after he had earned enough money to attend the academy in Munich. He joined the painting class of history painter Hermann Anschütz

Hermann Anschütz

Hermann Anschütz was a German painter and professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.Anschütz was born in Koblenz. It is traced, that he lived at Promenade Straße 1 in Munich around 1850. He died in Munich, where he was buried on the Old Southern Cemetery .-External links:* * -...

. In 1865 he met Wilhelm Leibl

Wilhelm Leibl

Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life.Leibl was born in Cologne and in 1861 began his first training with Hermann Becker, a local painter. He entered the Munich Academy in 1864, subsequently studying with several artists including Carl...

, which led to a lifelong friendship between the two.

Sperl attended the master class of Karl von Piloty

Karl von Piloty

Karl Theodor von Piloty was a German painter.Von Piloty was born in Munich. His father, Ferdinand Piloty , enjoyed a great reputation as a lithographer. In 1840, Karl was admitted as a student of the Munich Academy, under the artists Karl Schorn and Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld...

 a history painter who was well known beyond Munich and whose pupils included Hans Makart

Hans Makart

Hans Makart was a 19th century Austrian academic history painter, designer, and decorator; most well known for his influence on Gustav Klimt and other Austrian artists, but in his own era considered an important artist himself and was a celebrity figure in the high culture of Vienna, attended with...

, Franz von Lenbach

Franz von Lenbach

Franz von Lenbach was a German painter of Realist style.-Biography:Lenbach was born at Schrobenhausen, in Bavaria. His father was a mason, and the boy was intended to follow his father's trade or be a builder. With this view he was sent to school at Landsberg, and then to the polytechnic at Augsburg...

, Eduard von Grützner

Eduard von Grützner

Eduard Theodor Ritter von Grützner was a German painter and professor of art especially noted for his genre paintings of monks.-Childhood:...

, Franz Defregger

Franz Defregger

Franz Defregger was an Austrian artist known mostly for his genre and history paintings....

 and Gabriel von Max

Gabriel von Max

Gabriel Cornelius Ritter von Max was a Prague-born Austrian painter.He was born Gabriel Cornelius Max, the son of Czech sculptor Joseph Max and Anna Schumann. He studied between 1855 and 1858 at the Prague Academy of Arts with Eduard von Engerth...

 among others.

Study period with Ramberg

In the spring of 1866 Arthur von Ramberg

Arthur von Ramberg

Arthur von Ramberg was an Austrian-born painter who worked in Germany.-Biography:He studied art at Hanover and early made a tour in Italy, Hungary and Styria. In 1840, he attended the university at Prague, while at the same time uniting the pursuit of art with his other studies...

 was called from Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 to Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 and took over the master class in Munich. Since Sperl had a genial relationship with Ramberg he continued to be his pupil and left the academy only after Ramberg's death in 1875.

Even though Sperl was a member of the Leibl-Circle his training under Ramberg was decisive in forming Sperl's style. In the early 1870s he demonstrated his mastery in several large compositions with many figures, but from 1875 onwards he painted smaller compositions.

In 1878 he and Leibl moved to Berbling. In December of that year Max Liebermann

Max Liebermann

Max Liebermann was a German-Jewish painter and printmaker best known for his etching and lithography.-Biography:...

 moved from Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 to Munich, and Sperl met him sometime in 1879, most likely through Leibl. In the early 1880s Sperl became more involved with painting landscape

Landscape art

Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...

s.

Last years

In winter of 1882 Sperl moved to Kraiburg

Kraiburg

Kraiburg is a municipality in the district of Mühldorf in Bavaria in Germany....

 which was recommended to him by friends for its location. In 1883 he moved to Willhelm Leibl's new studio in Bad Aibling

Bad Aibling

Bad Aibling is a spa town and former district seat in Bavaria on the river Mangfall, located some 35 miles southeast of Munich. It is a health resort .-History:...

, Upper Bavaria

Upper Bavaria

Upper Bavaria is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany.- Geography :Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered around the city of Munich. It is subdivided into four regions : Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland , and Südostoberbayern...

. In May 1899 Sperl traveled to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, visiting Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Siena

Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...

 and Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. On the hot spring day of May 24, 1910 Sperl collapsed while painting on a blooming meadow. He suffered a stroke

Stroke

A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

 which led to a partial paralysis of the right side of his body. On July 23, 1914, a few days before the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Sperl died in Bad Aibling. His last wish was to be buried next to his friend Wilhelm Leibl in the same graveyard in Würzburg

Würzburg

Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....

.