Lenbach, Franz Von

Lenbach, Franz von (fränts fən lān`bäkh), 1836–1904, German portrait painter. He studied in Munich and Rome and from 1863 to 1868 worked as a copyist of old masters in Italy and Spain. His early work was in genre, but later he devoted himself to portraiture, in a style derivative of Titian and Rembrandt. Lenbach executed portraits of Bismarck, Emperor William I, Field Marshal von Moltke, Pope Leo XIII, Gladstone, Mommsen, Wagner, Liszt, and Johann Strauss. The Metropolitan Museum has A Young Woman and a portrait of Edwin Emerson.

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Lenbach, Franz Von 

Born Dec. 13, 1836, in Schrobenhausen, Bavaria; died May 6, 1904, in Munich. German painter.

Lenbach studied from 1857 to 1859 with K. Piloty in Munich and Rome and worked mainly in Munich. He copied the paintings of old masters and imitated their careful technique and methods of handling color. He was the favorite portrait painter of the official circles of Bismarck’s Germany; he painted about 80 portraits of Bismarck (the Hermitage in Leningrad and other museums). Lenbach also painted popular portraits of German cultural figures, including R. Wagner, T. Mommsen (both in the National Gallery, Berlin), and W. Busch (the Hermitage).

REFERENCE

Behr, H. Der Malerfürst Franz von Lenbach und seine Zeit. Munich, 1960.