Portrait of Leo Lehmann

Rudolf Lehmann was born into a Jewish family of artists near Hamburg. The son of Leo Lehmann, a painter, Lehmann undertook his artistic training in Paris, Munich, and Rome, alongside his brother Henry. After winning a gold medal at the Paris Salon, the annual art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, 1843 for one of his paintings, the artist was commissioned by the French government to produce a number of religious paintings for provincial churches. Lehmann became a talented and sought-after portraitist, whose sitters included English nobles, as well as the poet and playwright Robert Browning. Having married in London and spent much of his career in the city, Lehmann frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy. Later in his life, Lehmann also wrote his autobiography.