1836 -1904 · Worldly portrait, Munich and culture of the old masters

Piercing gazes, dark backgrounds, concentrated light and social authority make Franz von Lenbach the great German portraitist of the late 19th century.

Franz von Lenbach was born in 1836 in Schrobenhausen into a family of artisans. Trained at the Munich Academy, he became a student of Karl von Piloty, with whom he traveled to Italy. Copying from the old masters - Titian, Rubens, Velazquez and Rembrandt - played a decisive role in his apprenticeship. After 1870, Lenbach largely abandoned genre painting to devote himself to portraiture. After 1870, Lenbach largely abandoned genre painting to devote himself to portraiture. His success was spectacular: sovereigns, popes, artists, industrialists and statesmen passed through his studio. Otto von Bismarck became his most famous model; the chancellor's multiple effigies helped to permanently establish his public image. Lenbach often worked from sessions quick, drawn studies and photographs, then concentrates the painting on the head and hands. The clothes and background remain freer, so that the gaze dominates the canvas. This apparent economy is based on a scholarly staging of the personality, rank and supposed intelligence of the model. Lenbach also orchestrates his own figure as the "prince of painters". His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His portraits of his daughter Marion, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, studio and public performance. His Florentine villa in Munich, designed with Gabriel von Seidl, combines residence, the political and cultural elite of the German Empire. The "Franz von Lenbach" selection notably compares Otto von Bismarck and Marion Lenbach. His reading favors drawing.

Lenbach paints the costume less than the authority: the background fades, the light tightens and the gaze becomes the event of the portrait.