{{Short description|American artist (1833–1918)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}} {{refimprove|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Max Rosenthal | image = Max Rosenthal (drawing).tif | image_size = 150 | caption = Self-Portrait (1903) | birth_date = {{birth date|1833|11|23}} | birth_place = Turek, Congress Poland | death_date = {{death date and age|1918|8|8|1833|11|23}} | death_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | resting_place = | education = | known_for = Portraits and etchings | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = Carolina | children = 3, including Albert | father = | relatives = | family = | awards = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | module = {{Infobox person | child=yes | signature = Max Rosenthal signature.tiff }} }}
thumb|Interior of the old Masonic Temple (demolished) of Philadelphia, drawn and chromolithographed by Max Rosenthal (1854) '''Max Rosenthal''' (November 23, 1833 – August 8, 1918) was a Polish-American painter, lithographer, draftsman and etcher.
==Early life== Max Rosenthal was born on November 23, 1833, in Turek, Congress Poland to Jewish parents Esther Kolsky and Wolf Rosenthal.<ref name="chicago">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85995246/max-rosenthal-famous-artist-dies-at-85/ |title=Max Rosenthal, Famous Artist, Dies at 85 Years |page=12 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=1918-08-09 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-09-25}}{{Open access}}</ref><ref name="sketch">{{Cite book |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43059954 |title=Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, Vol. 50, No. 4, The American Jew in the Civil War |date=June 1961 |page=174-175 |jstor=43059954 |access-date=2021-09-26}}</ref> He studied in Berlin under Professor Carl Harnisch.<ref name="chicago"/><ref name="sketch"/> In 1847 he went to Paris, where he studied lithography, drawing, and painting with Martin Thurwanger, with whom he came to Philadelphia in 1849, and completed his studies.<ref name="chicago"/><ref name="sketch"/>
==Career== Rosenthal made the chromolithographic plates for what is believed to be the first fully illustrated book by this process in the United States, "Wild Scenes and Wild Hunters." In 1854 he drew and lithographed an interior view of the old Masonic temple in Philadelphia, the plate being 22 by 25 inches, the largest chromolithograph that had been made in the country up to that time.{{citation needed |date=September 2021}} He developed the first facsimile of water colors reproduced using the lithographic process in 1858. He also invented a process of decorating glass using sand blasting in 1872.<ref name="sketch"/>
He designed and executed the illustrations for various works, and during the Civil War followed the Army of the Potomac,<ref name="pittsburgh">{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85995781/max-rosenthal-11-aug-1918-the-pittsbur/ |title=Max Rosenthal |date=1918-08-11 |page=49 |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2021-09-25}}</ref> and drew every camp, up to the Battle of Gettysburg.{{citation needed |date=September 2021}} He made illustrations for the U.S. Military Commission.<ref name="sketch"/> These drawings he reproduced at the time. Up to 1884 he did miscellaneous works, including about 200 lithographs of distinguished Americans.{{citation needed |date=September 2021}}
After 1884 he turned his attention to etching, and executed over 150 portraits of eminent Americans and British officers, together with numerous large plates, among which are: * "Storm Approaches," after the painting by Henry Mosler * illustrations for several of Longfellow's poems * "Doris, the Shepherd's Maiden" * "Marguerite"
He also painted, including a version of Longfellow's ''Building of the Ship'', ''Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi'' and ''Jesus at Prayer''.<ref name="sketch"/>
He was the founder of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and one of the founders of the Sketch Club.<ref name="chicago"/>
==Personal life== Rosenthal married Carolina.<ref name="sketch"/> Together, they had two sons and one daughter.<ref name="pittsburgh"/> One of his sons, Albert Rosenthal, was also a lithographer and etcher.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/12/21/archives/albert-rosenthal-portrait-painter-noted-etcher-expert-on-rare-art.html |title=Albert Rosenthal, Portrait Painter |date=1939-12-21 |page=23 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2021-09-25}}</ref>
==Death== Rosenthal died on August 8, 1918, at his home in Philadelphia.<ref name="chicago"/>
==Awards== In 1854, Rosenthal received a silver medal in Applied Science in the Graphic Arts from the Franklin Institute relating to his work with chromolithography.<ref name="chicago"/><ref name="sketch"/><ref name="pittsburgh"/>
Prior to his death, he received a fellowship in the Royal Academy of Arts.<ref name="pittsburgh"/>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * {{Appletons'|wstitle=Rosenthal, Max|year=1900}} * {{Cite DAB |last=Jackson |first=Joseph |title=Rosenthal, Max |year=1935}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Max}} Category:1833 births Category:1918 deaths Category:Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States Category:19th-century American lithographers Category:19th-century American etchers Category:American portrait artists