Bildnis des Malers Paul Meyerheim

Paul Meyerheim was a Berlin animal and genre painter who moved in the same artistic circles as Menzel, and this 1868 portrait records a collegial relationship within the Berlin art world. Menzel's portraits of fellow artists occupy a distinctive place in his output: they document a professional community while also reflecting on the nature of artistic identity and creative labor. Meyerheim came from an artistic family — his father Friedrich Eduard Meyerheim was also a painter — and was already establishing his reputation as a specialist in animal subjects and scenes of artisanal life when Menzel painted him. The portrait dates from a period of significant professional confidence for Menzel: by 1868 he had received major state commissions and had been elected to the Berlin Academy. His willingness to paint a younger colleague in a relatively straightforward manner reflects the collegial culture of Berlin's professional artistic community. The work's eventual presence in the Führermuseum collection reflects the complex fate of German artworks in the Nazi period.

The portrait format gives Menzel room to develop his sitter's individual character through careful attention to the face and bearing. His oil technique applies paint with controlled directness, building tonal relationships that give the complexion life without resorting to academic smoothness.