Der Schaffner

Albert Anker is often called Switzerland’s national painter. He painted village life in the canton of Bern: children at school, old farmers by the stove, girls knitting, families at the table. His pictures are warm and plain, and they show country people with respect rather than sentiment. He was born in Ins, near Bern, in 1831 and first studied theology before turning to art in 1854. In Paris he trained under Charles Gleyre and at the École des Beaux-Arts, and won a gold medal at the Salon in 1866. For most of his life he kept a studio in Ins and spent winters in Paris. He also painted still lifes, made hundreds of watercolours and decorated over five hundred faience plates. His studio in Ins is now a museum. Look at the faces of the children and old people in works like Child at a Table. The attention he gives them is the heart of his art.