Franz Gräßel (1861 - 1948)

Franz Gräßel

Franz Xafer Gräßel was a German animal and landscape painter.

Gräßel studied painting at the Karlsruhe Academy and at the Munich Academy, where he became a professor in 1911. Initially his favorite subject was rural landscapes, but from 1894 he painted mainly ducks and geese and achieved a high level of skill in their depiction. Gräßel even earned the nickname "duck painter".

In 1932 Gräßel joined the NSDAP, and in 1938, 1939 and 1940 was represented by four paintings at the Great Exhibition of German Art in Munich. Adolf Hitler liked them so much that he purchased them all. The artist's paintings are now in important galleries and collections in Germany.