Dücker, Eugen Gustav (1841 – 1916). Harvest. (1877)

Etching, paper 19,3 x 24,5 Lower left – E. Dücker. Dücker was one of the first to cultivate etching work in Düsseldorf. This is Dücker’s first known work in Estonia.

Estonian painter. His first teacher was Friedrich Stern (1812–89) in Arensburg, and he subsequently studied at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts under Sokrat Vorob’yov (1827–88). In 1862 he was awarded a gold medal for Oak Trees near Reval (Moscow, Tret’yakov Gal.). In 1863–69 Dücker travelled around Europe visiting Germany, Holland, Belgium and France; he continued to work intensively and was influenced by the Düsseldorf school. He was based in Germany from 1864, but he maintained links with both Estonia and Russia. In 1873 he was appointed a professor in St Petersburg and a year later in Düsseldorf, at the Kunstakademie. He completed commissions from Estonia and exhibited in St Petersburg. In paintings such as Sea Shore (1875) and On the Pärnu River (1879; both Tallinn, A. Mus. Estonia)