Leo Lehmann

About the Artwork

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.

Inscriptions

Signed lower center on spine of book in light-brown paint: r. lehman- [h and m attached] / 1851

Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).

Quick Overview

Artist: Rudolf Lehmann (German, 1819–1905)
Date: 1851
Medium: oil on fabric
Dimensions: Unframed: 67.5 x 55.5 cm (26 9/16 x 21 7/8 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
Accession no.: 1980.268

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.

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.