Richard Sohn

He was born to the artist, Karl Ferdinand Sohn, and his wife Emilie Auguste née Von Mülmann (1805-1884); a sister of the government councillor, Otto von Mülmann [de].

In 1851, he completed his public school education at the "Städtischen Realschule" (now the "Humboldt-Gymnasium Düsseldorf [de]").

He then enrolled at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied with Rudolf Wiegmann, Heinrich Mücke, and Karl Josef Ignatz Mosler [de].

From 1860 to 1862, he took private lessons from Rudolf Jordan,[1] who was married to his mother's youngest sister, Sophie.

He was also influenced by the work of his cousin, Wilhelm Sohn, although he remained generally true to the styles of the Düsseldorf school of painting.