Henri Lehmann (Born 1814) was a French historical portraitist and painter who was born in Germany. Born in Kiel, in Holstein, Lehmann received his first art tuition from his father and from other painters in Hamburg. At the age of 17 (in 1831), he travelled to Paris to study art under Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. He worked very hard and became one of his most accomplished pupils and a close associate for many years. In 1835 he held his first exhibition at the Salon where he won a 2nd-class medal. This was a great achievement for him and from then he exhibited regularly at the Salon and won 1st-class medals in 1840, 1848 and 1855. From 1838 to 1841 Lehmann lived in Rome where he continued his artistic education with Ingres and collaborated with him on some works—including the painting of the Muse of Lyric Poetry and the Luigi Cherubini.
While in Rome he befriended Franz Liszt and Marie d’Agoult his lover and author, painting portraits of them and corresponding with them for many years. Lehmann’s pupils included Modesto Brocos, Georges Seurat, Alexandre Séon, Camille Pissarro, Alphonse Osbert, Amédée Forestier, Julien Dupré, Édouard Joseph Dantan, and Edmond Aman-Jean. In 1842 Lehmann settled in Paris permanently. He was awarded quite a number of commissions for large-scale public works, such as at the Palais de Justice, the Palais du Luxembourg, the Church of Ste-Clothilde, the Hôtel de Ville, and the Chapel of the Jeunes Aveugles on Rue Saint-Martin in the Church of Saint-Merri. In 1864 he was elected a member of the Institut de France. Lehmann died in 1882 in Paris.
