Portrait of a man "Bankdirektor Friedr. von Schauss"

Franz von Lenbach's portrait of bank director Friedrich von Schauss is a characteristic example of his celebrated — and sometimes criticized — formula for male portraiture. Lenbach was Munich's most sought-after portraitist from the 1870s onward, with a clientele that included Bismarck, Pope Leo XIII, and the leading figures of German politics, industry, and culture. His technique deliberately evoked the Old Masters, particularly Titian and Velázquez, lending his sitters an air of historical grandeur. A bank director of sufficient wealth and ambition would naturally seek a Lenbach portrait as a statement of arrival.

Lenbach's trademark technique involves a warm brownish ground, rapidly worked face passages that imitate Old Master handling, and a deliberate suppression of background detail to focus all attention on the sitter's physiognomy. The result is forceful and immediate — a painted presence rather than a descriptive record.