Franz von Lenbach (1836-1904) was a German painter. Influenced by Titian, Velázquez, and Rembrandt, he specialised in portraiture from 1868 onwards and quickly became the favoured painter of powerful men in the second half of the 19th century. In his autobiography, Edward Steichen remembers photographing Franz von Lenbach in Munich: “[...] I photographed Franz von Lenbach, the German portrait painter. I photographed him much in the manner in which he had made some of his famous self-portraits.”