Maximilian Haushofer was the son of the private tutor to the Bavarian court of King Maximilian I. Though he studied law at first, the young man quickly recognized his true talent for painting. He studied with Anton Sedelmayr, C. F. Heinzmann (1795–1846) and undertook his own studies of nature.

Chiemsee, the Königsee and the Bohemian Forest were his preferred motifs, his depictions enhanced by the experiences he gained while in Italy. He taught landscape painting at the Prague Academy for almost twenty years, and his focus was directed at painting en plein air.

He initiated the artist’s colony in Frauenchiemsee two years before the founding of the Barbizon School, and had a significant influence on artists...