Q111640393

This second 1877 canvas from Lenbach in the Art Collection of the Federal Republic highlights the extraordinary volume at which the artist operated during his peak years. Lenbach ran his studio with professional efficiency, employing assistants for preparatory stages while reserving the face and hands for his own hand — a method openly borrowed from Titian and Rubens, whom he had studied extensively during Italian travels. The Federal Republic's collection of multiple Lenbach works from a single year reflects both his productivity and the sustained demand for his services from the German state's institutional predecessors. Each portrait, whatever its specific sitter, represents Lenbach's ongoing project of constructing an authoritative visual record of German leadership in the Wilhelmine era.

Two canvases from the same year allow comparison of Lenbach's approach across different sitters: the technical method remains consistent — warm ground, tonal glaze structure, restrained color — while the psychological register adjusts to the individual. His assistants likely prepared grounds and backgrounds, with Lenbach focusing his attention on the crucial passages.