Albert Lang (1847-1933) - Aphrodite et Adonis

ALBERT LANG (1847 - 1933)
‘Aphrodite and Adonis’
1926
Oil on panel
Monogrammed and dated lower left - Panel dimensions - H 38 x W 45 cm
Carved and gilded wooden frame 60 x 52 cm
Acquired at the Hötel des Ventes in Strasbourg

Lang was the son of merchant Heinrich Lang and his wife Katharina Kaufmann. After finishing school, Lang began studying architecture in his hometown. He later transferred to the Berlin Bauakademie, where he became a student of Heinrich Strack.

On a trip to Italy in 1869/70, which Lang undertook due to his poor health, he developed a taste for painting. His friend, the painter Carl Schuch, encouraged him in this and arranged for him to study under Alexander Strähuber. On his return from Italy, Lang settled in Munich and studied painting there. Hans Thoma and Wilhelm Leibl had a particularly strong influence on Lang in the early days. Through Leibl, Lang not only became more familiar with the painting of Gustave Courbet and his circle, but also joined the circle around his friend Leibl.
Lang interpreted the direction represented here very vehemently and fought throughout his life against the style represented by, among others, the history painter Karl Theodor von Piloty. In 1873, Lang attended the academy in Karlsruhe for several weeks, and in early 1874 he undertook a study trip through Italy together with Thoma. From March to May 1874, the two were in Rome, from where Thoma returned to Germany; Lang, however, remained in Florence for 14 years.

In Florence, Lang befriended the painter Hans von Marées and joined the group of artists that had formed around Marées. Its members included Peter Bruckmann, Conrad Fiedler, Adolf von Hildebrand and A. Hollaender. Karl von Pidoll and Arnold Böcklin were close to this circle, but cannot be counted among its members.

In 1881, Lang married Maria Francesca Ludovica Zampis in Florence. They had a son, the future painter Leonhard Lang (born 1878). In 1888, Lang returned to Germany and settled in Frankfurt am Main. Hans Thoma was now living and working there. Together they created a fresco for the restaurant Zum Kaiser Karl, among other things, but it was destroyed in the last war.
In 1897, Lang moved to Munich, but soon began to experience increasing problems due to his eye condition. After a few years, his illness led to complete blindness. Albert Lang died in Munich on 1 December 1933 at the age of 86.
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