Karl Eduard von Liphart

Franz von Lenbach (1836-1904) was a German painter known for the powerfully composed portraits that make him one of the most important portrait painters of the 19th century. The portrait of Karl Eduard von Liphart from c. 1875 depicts the Estonian art collector and scholar in the powerfully composed, precisely observed manner that distinguishes Lenbach's best portrait work from the more general portraiture of his contemporaries. Lenbach was known as the 'Prince of Portraits' and painted many of the most important figures of his time, including Bismarck and Wagner. Karl Eduard von Liphart was a noted art collector and scholar whose collection included important works of Italian Renaissance art.

The portrait of Karl Eduard von Liphart is important in the history of German painting because it demonstrates the powerfully composed, precisely observed manner that Lenbach brought to portraiture as one of the most important portrait painters of the 19th century. Lenbach's powerfully composed portraits—known as the works of the 'Prince of Portraits'—represent one of the most important traditions in 19th-century portrait painting, and the c. 1875 portrait shows this tradition at its most powerfully composed.

Karl Eduard von Liphart is Lenbach's powerfully composed portrait: the noted art collector and scholar depicted in the precisely observed manner of the 'Prince of Portraits' and one of the most important portrait painters of the 19th century. The c. 1875 portrait shows the powerfully composed portraiture that makes Lenbach one of the most important German painters.