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Leo Lehmann

Rudolf Lehmann

1851

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

German Romanticism Impressionism Realism Early 19th Century Portrait

Dominant colour

Leo Lehmann is a 1851 unspecified by Rudolf Lehmann, a German Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Rudolf Lehmann
When & what style?: 1851 · German Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A man sits at a table, drawing with a metal tool in his hand. Books and papers pile around him. His face is serious, eyes locked on his work. This is the artist’s father, also a painter. The tool he holds—called a portecrayon—was used for wax crayons before pencils existed. The scene feels quiet, like we’ve walked in on a private moment. If you like this kind of intimate portrait, look up *subject: germany, 19th century, mod euro*.

The story of this work

Overview

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,…

Read the full account in the museum source.

About the artist

Artist

Rudolf Lehmann

Rudolf Lehmann painted formal portraits in 19th-century Europe. He left behind sharp-lined likenesses such as the 1851 portrait of his son Leo Lehmann and a second portrait of the same boy from 1859. These calm, closely…

See the richer artist page