Max Schmalzl (7 July 1850 – 7 January 1930) was a German Redemptorist lay brother who worked as a painter, illustrator, and designer in the style of the Nazarene and the Beuron schools.

[1] Schmalzl attended the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule (Royal School of Applied Arts) in Munich where he was a student of Theodor Spieß (1846–1920).

[5] The aesthetic of his work was inspired by the Nazarene school, which looked to the early Italian Renaissance as a model in terms of spiritual purity.

[5] Monika Schwarzenberger-Wurster, in a 2010 doctoral thesis for the University of Regensburg, evaluated Schmalzl's artistic legacy: In blatant contrast to his work, which was known and respected by the entire Catholic world at the time, Max Schmalzl led the secluded life of a lay brother in the monastery of Gars am Inn, and placed himself and his artistic abilities at the service of the Church.

[7] Due to a long-standing collaboration with the Regensburg publishing house Friedrich Pustet, Schmalzl's work became ubiquitous in Catholic circles.