The Mealtime Prayer
Fritz von Uhde1885
Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Berlin, Germany
When Uhde painted his large-scale religious works (Let the Little Children come unto Me) which were popular around 1900, they seemed to some, including the emperor, to be revolutionary in their approach. Biblical events are depicted in a contemporary setting; Christ appears as an individual. The social milieu is faithfully reproduced using the latest naturalistic techniques. There is no need for theological interpretation. The weight of the subject matter, however, means that there is a tendency to overlook both the fine play of light and shade in Uhde’s works and the rich tonal modulations of his highly sophisticated plein air paintings.
- Title: The Mealtime Prayer
- Creator: Fritz von Uhde
- Date Created: 1885
- Physical Dimensions: w165.0 x h130.0 cm
- Type: Painting
- Technique and material: Oil on canvas
- Inv.-No.: A I 378
- ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-815114
- External link: Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Copyrights: Text: © Prestel Verlag / Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Photo: © b p k - Photo Agency / Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin / Jörg P. Anders
- Collection: Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Artist biography: Fritz von Uhde was a German painter who mainly executed genre and religious subjects. He was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden in 1866 and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich in 1877, where he became deeply influenced by the Dutch old masters. He continued his studies of them in Paris from 1879 under the supervision of Mihály Munkáscsy. His stay in the Netherlands in 1882 brought about a significant change in his style: he abandoned dark chiaroscuro in favour of the palette of the French Impressionists. He was often criticized for depicting ordinary ‘low’ scenes but went on to become one of the leaders of the Munich and later Berlin Secessions. His style is characterized by being somewhere in between realism and Impressionism. One of his most famous artworks is 'Heathland Princess' (1889).
- Artist Place of Death: Munich, Germany
- Artist Place of Birth: Wolkenburg, Germany
- Artist Dates: 1848-05-22/1911-02-25
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