His father, who originally came from South Tyrol where the family name was spelled "Lempach", was a Master Mason for Schrobenhausen,[1][2] where Lenbach was born.

While there, he drew and painted in his spare time, befriended Johann Baptist Hofner (1832–1913), the animal painter, and decided to become an artist.

In 1854, he obtained his family's reluctant permission to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, and later took private lessons from Hermann Anschütz.

[3] In 1858, he was able to stage an exhibition at the Glaspalast and won a travel scholarship, which enabled him to accompany Piloty to Rome.

A few works remain as the outcome of this first journey: A Peasant seeking Shelter from Bad Weather (1855), The Goatherd (1860, in the Schack Gallery, Munich) and The Arch of Titus (in the Palfy collection, Budapest).

On returning to Munich, he was at once called to Weimar to take the appointment of professor[3] at the newly established Weimar Saxon Grand Ducal Art School, where he became known for taking his students on painting expeditions en plein aire.

From 1875 to 1876 he, Hans Makart, and other associates made a trip to Egypt, which left a deep impression in his style.

By the 1890s, he was painting almost entirely from photographs, a common practice at the time, but he also began working too fast, in an effort to create sufficient income.

In 1895, a major scandal erupted when one of his assistants took unfinished paintings and sketches, had students fill in the details, and passed them off as Lenbach's work.

[9] Lenbachs were also looted from Jewish collectors like the Löw-Beer family in Brněnec,[10] Rudolf Mosse in Berlin,[11] Sigmund Bernstein,[12] and many others.