Franz von Lenbach (1836 Schrobenhausen - 1904... Lot 1995

Franz von Lenbach (1836 Schrobenhausen - 1904 Munich) Self-portrait with his daughter Marion The double portrait, in which Franz von Lenbach holds his beloved, only two-year-old daughter Marion (1892 - 1947) in his arms, is one of the artist's best portraits, also due to the intensity of the gaze of the two en face, at the same time reflecting his intimate affection. In tonal coloration and a finely fluid, predominantly glazed style with individual impasto heightenings, Lenbach concentrates on the faces in a manner characteristic of him, while he deliberately treats the bodies and surroundings only fleetingly in order to increase the intensity of expression and to keep everything distracting at bay. Lenbach, who was an extremely proud and enthusiastic father, created a larger series of paintings of his daughter Marion, whom he often depicted as angelic with her blonde hair, both individually and with himself. Probably the present painting belonged to the large "Collection Lenbach", which showed in 1894 at the "Munich Annual Exhibition: of works of art of all nations in the Royal Glass Palace" (Cat.-No. 1783: "von Lenbach with daughter"). When Franz and Magdalena Lenbach divorced amicably in 1896, Marion remained with her father, so that his daughter continued to be a favorite subject of the painter. Trained at the Munich Academy, the painter became a sought-after portraitist of the nobility, upper middle classes and important personalities from politics, society, science and culture from 1868. These included not least the Chancellor of the Reich, Otto Prince von Bismarck, of whom he painted about 80 portraits between 1874 and 1897. His artistic models were Peter Paul Rubens and Titian, who, in his opinion, were best able to portray the individual personality in a representative manner. In 1882 Lenbach received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown and was raised to the peerage as Knight von Lenbach. Because of his outstanding social position and lifestyle, he advanced in Munich to become a painter prince par exellence, who had a large, luxurious city villa built for himself in the shape of an Italian Renaissance palazzo in the center of Munich from 1886-1890 (today's Städtische Galerie museum in the Lenbachhaus). In 1896 Lenbach was elected president of the Munich Artists' Cooperative. Oil/painted; R. o. sign. u. dat. 1894. 81,5 cm x 65,5 cm. Frame. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1894.