Alexander Frenz was born 1861 in Rheydt. In 1879 he began to study at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art with a focus on landscape painting, but also illustration and etching. After a short stay at the Munich Academy, studying under Franz von Lenbach, he returned to Düsseldorf where he, influenced by the famous symbolist painters Arnold Böcklin and Franz von Stuck, painted seemingly fantastic scenes from the realm of fable and allegory as well as symbolic images. These also illustrate the influences of the antiquity Frenz studied during his trips through Rome, Naples or Capri. His paintings soon became very popular not only among local art critics and audiences, but also beyond the borders of the Rhine country and eventually made him a well-know...