LEEKE, FERDINAND1859 Burg/Magdeburg - 1937 Nürnberg


Title: Siegfried Listens to the Forest Bird.
Technique: Oil on canvas.
Measurement: 103 x 125.5cm.
Notation: Signed, dated and inscribed lower left: "Ferdinand Leeke Munich 1931".
Frame: Original pageantry frame.
Provenance:
Private ownership, Germany.

Ferdinand Leeke is particularly well known for his scenes from Richard Wagner's operas. He created these on commission from Siegfried Wagner, the composer's third son, between 1889 and 1898, but the Munich painter also repeatedly treated the opera scenes in his later work.
In the Ring of the Nibelung, Siegfried, 2nd act, the hero is able to understand the voice of the birds after dragon's blood gets on his tongue.