[1] The painting depicts three generations of German peasants sitting together in a pew at the village church in Berbling near Bad Aibling, Bavaria.

Leibl had left his previous base in Munich to live amongst the people of the countryside and record their everyday life.

This work followed a series of such paintings and was the high point of his artistic career, taking some three and a half years to complete.

[2] The three women featured in the work were modelled by locals and the painting carried out in situ in the church.

A problem arose when the church pastor died in 1878 shortly after work on the painting began and his replacement refused permission for Leibl to continue.