SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Fritz von Wille

The German painter Fritz von Wille developed a landscape practice in which the Eifel became a recurring point of reference, both in his stays there and in the titles of works held in Bitburg. His work of the 1880s, associated with the detailed realism of the Düsseldorf School, combines compositions described as romantic with meticulous execution; his studies later developed towards a freer, Impressionist brushwork and expansive panoramas. Born in Weimar in 1860 into an artistic family, the son of August and Clara von Wille, he grew up in Düsseldorf from 1863. He studied there at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1879 to 1882, attending courses taught by Andreas Müller, Heinrich Lauenstein and Peter Janssen the Elder, among others.

His travels informed a practice attentive to the diversity of landscapes: in the 1880s, he travelled through several German regions, including Hesse, the Harz, the Black Forest and Thuringia. He visited the Italian Riviera three times, then stayed in Norway in 1904 and 1925. From 1885, his regular stays in the Eifel were accompanied by successive summer residences in Reifferscheid and Kall-Urft. A member of the Düsseldorf artists’ association Malkasten from 1886, he received the title of professor in 1910, though it was not connected with any teaching activity. The following year, he acquired Kerpen Castle and moved there with his family.

According to the source, the Fritz-von-Wille Museum at the Haus Beda cultural centre in Bitburg holds around one hundred paintings representing different phases of his work. The works cited include Ein klarer Tag (1906), Sommertag in der Eifel (1907) and Einsamkeit, Mosenberg (1911). In 1914, Die Eifel im Wechsel der Jahreszeiten was published, a book by Karl von Perfall and the artist bringing together twenty colour reproductions after his paintings. Blick auf das Weinfelder Maar in der Eifel, a work attributed to Fritz von Wille in an auction catalogue, is described as an oil on canvas measuring 61 × 80 cm, signed “F.v.Wille” at the lower left.

This profile brings together identity references for Fritz von Wille and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

Documented auction references

20auction references

1auction house

20documented results with prices

Lempertz

References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.

Works recorded at auction

Photograph : Lempertz · Enlarge image ↗

Lempertz · Lot 1970

Maar auf dem Moseberg in der Eifel, im Hintergrund der Ort Bettenfeld

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Maar auf dem Moseberg in der Eifel, im Hintergrund der Ort Bettenfeld
Öl auf Leinwand

Auction date : 2022-11-19

Published result : 2520 EUR

Including buyer’s premium

Estimate : 2000

Fritz von Wille

Documented auction references

Works recorded at auction

Maar auf dem Moseberg in der Eifel, im Hintergrund der Ort Bettenfeld

Ginsterblüte bei Reifferscheid

Blühender Ginster in der Eifel

Bauernhof mit jungem Paar und älterer Frau

Ginsterblüte bei Reifferscheid

Landschaft in der Eifel

Landschaft mit Bauernhäusern

Ginsterblüte am Mosenberg

Eifellandschaft (Herbstmorgen)

Frühsommer am Eifelmaar

View of the Weinfeld maar in the Eifel

Eifellandschaft

Vorfrühling in Schleiden

Eifellandschaft im Winter mit Blick auf die Burg Kerpen

Verschneite Eifellandschaft

Eifellandschaft mit blühendem Ginster

Landschaft bei Schleiden in der Eifel

Eifellandschaft

Eifellandschaft mit blühendem Ginster

Blühender Ginster in der Eifel

Sources and references

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