id: 150057 accession number: 1980.268 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.268 updated: 2023-09-15 11:23:04.792000 Leo Lehmann, 1851. Rudolf Lehmann (German, 1819–1905). Oil on fabric; unframed: 67.5 x 55.5 cm (26 9/16 x 21 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Noah L. Butkin 1980.268 title: Leo Lehmann title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1851 creation date earliest: 1851 creation date latest: 1851 current location: creditline: Bequest of Noah L. Butkin copyright: --- culture: Germany, 19th century technique: oil on fabric department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Rudolf Lehmann (German, 1819–1905) - artist Miniature-painter and lithographer Leo Lehmann (1782-1859), depicted in this portrait, gave his son Rudolf his first artistic training before sending him off to Paris at age fifteen. There Rudolf lived and studied with his older brother, Henri Lehmann (1814-1882), attending classes at the Académie des Beaux-Arts. Henri, an admirer and student of Ingres (q.v.), would become a renowned academic painter himself, receiving various commissions for public decorations in Paris, such as works for the Hôtel de Ville and the Palais du Luxembourg. Henri also portrayed the social and cultural elite, as attested by his famous portrait of Franz Liszt (1840, Musée Carnavalet, Paris). In 1837 the two brothers set off for Rome, but, after learning about a cholera epidemic there, they ended up in Munich, where Rudolf studied with Peter von Cornelius (1783-1867) and briefly with Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805-1874). Finally, in the autumn of 1839, Rudolf went to Rome, where he remained until 1846 and where he would return regularly (1851-59, 1861-66, 1882). Inspired by his new surroundings and the work of Léopold Robert (1794-1835), Lehmann began painting genre scenes depicting the life of Italian peasants. He sent one of his first works, The Spinster, to the Paris Salon of 1842, where it received a gold medal. Lehmann's genre scenes became very popular and reached a large audience through lithographic reproductions. Upon returning to Paris in 1847, when he exhibited his large Sixtus V Blessing the Pontine Marshes (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lille) at the Salon, he encountered a city in political turmoil forecasting the end of King Louis Philippe's regime, the so-called July Monarchy (1830-48). Lehmann returned to Hamburg for one and a half years before visiting London for several months in 1850. In both cities he painted many portraits. The following year he returned to Rome but regularly sent his Italian genre paintings to the Royal Academy. In 1861 he married a British subject, and the couple finally decided to move to London in 1866; Lehmann later became a British citizen. He continued to exhibit at the Royal Academy until 1904, and after 1870 portraits of the British aristocracy dominated his submissions. In 1894 Rudolf Lehmann published his autobiography, which he illustrated with portraits of people he had met. Two years later he published Men and Women of the Century, which contained ninety portraits of famous statesmen, writers, composers, scientists, and artists. --- measurements: Unframed: 67.5 x 55.5 cm (26 9/16 x 21 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed lower center on spine of book in light-brown paint: r. lehman- [h and m attached] / 1851 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1980 opening date: 1981-06-24T04:00:00 Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Mrs. Oppenheim (probably Marie Oppenheim, the sister of the artist). Sold with several other Lehmann portraits at San Francisco sale, Butterfield & Butterfield, 9 December 1975 (lot 853), Portrait of a XIXTh Century Gentleman. Schweitzer Gallery, New York, 1976 (stock number 7944). Bought by Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Bequeathed to the CMA in 1980. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: This portrait portrays the artist's father, himself a painter and printmaker who gave his son his earliest artistic training. Fittingly, Lehmann depicted his father at work, surrounded by the tools of his trade. Resting his arms upon a sheet of paper supported by a book and a portfolio, Leo Lehmann holds a portecrayon, a penlike holder for the 19th-century equivalent of modern wax crayons. His intense gaze and his poised drawing implement suggest that he may be recording the likeness of his son, who at the same time paints his father's portrait. Lehmann was a successful portrait painter, especially among the English aristocracy, during the latter half of the 19th century. His popularity resulted not only from his remarkable ability to reproduce the appearance of surfaces—like his father's velvet coat—but also his capacity to capture the psychological presence of his sitters. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 390-394, Vol. II, no. 136 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.268/1980.268_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.268/1980.268_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.268/1980.268_full.tif