Franz von Lenbach is a famous German painter of the 19th century, an outstanding portrait painter, a prominent representative of the academic fine arts. Franz von Lenbach also painted a large number of paintings and, towards the end of his life, was involved in the design of food packaging.

He was a highly successful commercial artist and amassed a substantial fortune until the end of his life. And for the bright manner of performance, contemporaries gave him the respectful nickname “Malerfürst”.

Biography of Franz von Lenbach

His father is from Austria, he founded his own construction company. Franz was the son of Lenbach Sr.’s second marriage. And in 1844, when the boy’s mother died, his father married for the third time. In total, 17 children were born in the family, of which only 11 survived to adulthood.

After elementary school, Franz continued his studies at the commercial college in Landshut, graduating in 1851 with excellent marks. A few months later, he began taking art classes with Anselm Sickinger. In April of the following year, his father died, and the young man was forced to return home for a short time to help his older brother Josef manage the family business.

In the autumn of 1852, Franz Lenbach entered the Polytechnic Institute in Augsburg to receive a higher education in civil engineering. The young man devoted all his free time to art, drawing urban and rural landscapes. As a result, he dropped out of his studies at the Polytechnic Institute.

In early 1854, Franz Lenbach became a student at the Munich Academy of Arts, where his first mentor was Hermann Anschütz. But two years later he transferred to the workshop of Carl Theodor von Piloty, with whom the young artist had a very good relationship. Under the guidance of a mentor, the young man successfully graduated from the academy and, together with his teacher, went on a trip to Italy in 1858.

Returning home, Lenbach painted several paintings based on the sketches he had brought and successfully sold them. With the money he earned, he again went on a trip at the end of the summer of 1859, visited Paris and Brussels, and also visited the cities of central Germany. In addition, he always helped his younger sisters and brothers financially.

portrait genre

The year 1860 became a landmark in the artist’s career – it was this period that his first works in the portrait genre date from. Franz Lenbach was also hired by the newly founded Weimar School of Art, and received the title of professor. Here he met and befriended two other young artists, Arnold Böcklin and Reinhold Begas. Together they often worked on portrait studies, gradually honing their own style of painting.

In the spring of 1862 Lenbach resigned from the Weimar School of Art and moved to Munich. In Munich, he was lucky to meet Adolf von Schack, an influential philanthropist and artist, who invited the artist to paint a series of copies of paintings by old masters for his collection. So Franz got the opportunity to visit Italy again, where he lived until 1868, working on a bulk order. The copies made by the artist were so well made that most people could not distinguish them from the original.

Copying the masterpieces of Titian, Rubens, Velazquez and other famous masters of painting, Franz Lenbach gained vast experience and honed his own skills to perfection. After returning to Germany, he was expected by a warm welcome from the public, and customers lined up for work.

Success and fame

In the bohemian circle, he had many friends who idolized the master and praised his work in every possible way. And in 1882, the painter was awarded the Knight’s Order, and from that moment on, the prefix “background” was added to his surname.

Despite recognition and fame, Franz von Lenbach for a long time could not arrange his personal life. Only in 1887 did he marry Magdalena Moltke for the first time, but this marriage cannot be called happy. For a long time, the couple had no children, and only in the 1890s did they have two daughters. And in 1896, the couple divorced, and according to the agreement signed by the parties, the eldest daughter Marion remained to live in her father’s house.

A few months after the divorce, the artist married Charlotte von Hornstein, and this marriage was successful. Charlotte gave Franz another daughter, Gabriela, and until the end of her days supported her husband in all his creative endeavors.

In October 1902, after a trip to his native Schrobenhausen, the painter suffered an apoplexy, and from that time on his health began to deteriorate rapidly. And on May 6, 1904, Franz von Lenbach died in his own luxurious mansion on the outskirts of Munich.