Walter Leistikow studied in Berlin at the Prussian Academy of Art in 1883 and later (1885-1887) under the painter Hans Frederik Gude. A German Symbolist painter and printmaker, he first exhibited at the Berlin Salon in 1886. His style developed into the ‘Jugendstil’ movement in the late 1890’s when he contributed etchings to the art journal ‘Pan’. He was a professor at the Berlin Academy of Fine Art c.1890-1893 and later became a founder member of the Berlin Secession and in 1903 was co-founder of the Deutscher Kunstlerbund.