Lenbach, Franz von

PAINTER (GERMANY)
BORN 13 Dec 1836, Schrobenhausen, Bayern - DIED 6 May 1904, München, Bayern
GRAVE LOCATION München, Bayern: Westfriedhof, Baldurstrasse 28 (left wall, 81)

Franz von Lenbach was the son of a stonemason and studied art in Munich (1854) and Rome. He was appointed professor in Weimar in 1862 and worked as a copyist from 1863 to 1868. Later he became a celebrated portraitist and an important society personality in late nineteenth century Munich.

Von Lenbach often painted from photographs and his style reminds of Titian and Rembrandt. He painted most celebrities of his time, among them Peggy Guggenheim, Richard and Cosima Wagner, Pope Leo XIII, Franz Liszt, Prinzregent Luitpold, William Gladstone, Emperor Wilhelm I, emperor Francis Joseph. Lenbach portrayed Bismarck numerous times.

He was ennobled in 1882 and a few years later his fame enabled him to build a large villa at the Königsplatz in Munich.

Lenbach married Magdalena Gräfin Moltke, who was 28 years his junior, in 1888 in Breslau. In 1892 they had a daughter, Marion. A second daughter, Erika, was born in 1895. At that time the marriage was already failing and they split up in 1896. Erika stayed with her mother and Marion with her father. Soon afterwards he married his pupil Charlotte von Hornstein and in 1899 their daughter Gabriele was born. Magdalena von Moltke married Bismarck's physician, Dr. Ernst Schwenninger.

The Lenbach Villa in München is a municipal museum since 1929. In 1936 his widow bought the house in Schrobenhausen where he was born and it was turned into a Lenbachmuseum.

Family
• Wife: Lenbach, Lolo von (1896-1904)

Related persons
• painted Beccadelli di Bologna, Maria, Marchesa di Altavilla, Principessa di Camporeale
• has a connection with Böcklin, Arnold
• painted Franz Joseph von Habsburg, Emperor of Austria
• supported Haider, Karl
• was a friend of Kaulbach, Friedrich August von
• painted Lenbach, Lolo von
• painted Liszt, Franz
• painted Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria
• knew Makart, Hans
• painted Morena, Berta
• painted Perfall, Karl Theodor Emanuel Freiherr von
• was pupil of Piloty, Karl Theodor von
• painted Schumann, Clara
• was teacher of Schwartze, Thérèse
• painted Seitz, Franz von
• was rival of Stuck, Franz von
• painted Wagner, Cosima
• painted Wagner, Richard
• met Werefkin, Marianne von
• painted Wilbrandt, Auguste
• painted Wilhelm I, emperor of Germany

Events
0/3/1875Festival in honour of Richard Wagner at Makart's studio in Vienna. It had the form of a costume ball and he cooperated with Franz von Lenbach. Franz Liszt played the piano. Apart from Richard Wagner, his wife Cosima, Gottfried Semper and Arnold Böcklin were present. [Böcklin, Arnold][Liszt, Franz][Makart, Hans ][Semper, Gottfried][Wagner, Cosima][Wagner, Richard]

Images

The Lenbachhaus in Munich.
Picture by Androom (05 Jan 1997)

 

Franz von Lenbach's tombstone in the mausoleum at the Westfriedhof, Munich.
Picture by Androom (20 Mar 2002)

 

The mausoleum of Franz von Lenbach at the Westfriedhof, Munich.
Picture by Androom (02 Sep 2013)

 

"Cosima Wagner".
   (1870, Bayreuth: Richard-Wagner-Museum, Haus Wahnfried)
 

"Franz Liszt als Abbé".
   (1871, Bayreuth: Franz Liszt Museum)
 

"Richard Wagner".
   (1871, Bayreuth: Richard-Wagner-Museum, Haus Wahnfried)
 

"Clara Schumann".
   (1878, Zwickau: Robert-Schumann-Haus)
 

"Franz Liszt als Abbé".
   (1881, Bayreuth: Franz Liszt Museum)
 

"Franz von Lenbach mit Frau und Töchtern" ("Franz von Lenbach with Wife and Children").
   (1903, München: Lenbachhaus)
 

Sources
Baedeker's Munich, The Automobile Association, 1985
• Baumstark, Reinhold (ed.), Lenbach, Sonnenbilder und Porträts, Pinakothek-Dumont, München, 2004
Schilderkunst van A tot Z, REBO, Lisse, 1990
Homework Help and Textbook Solutions | bartleby
Full text of "COSIMA WAGNER VOL. II"


Lenbach, Lolo von

Published: 01 Jan 2006
Last update: 02 May 2022