FRANZ SERAPH HANFSTAENGL (1804 - 1877), AFTER Japanese Erotic Scenes, three lithographs

stamped ‘FRANZ HANFSTAENGL MUNCHEN’ (on the reverse) lithograph on paper 47.4 x 35.4 cm (each) Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl was a Bavarian painter, lithographer, and photographer. Nicknamed «Count Litho», Hanfstaengl gained popularity by producing lithographic portraits of Munich society. In 1833, he founded his own lithographic establishment in Munich, which he ran until 1868, and to which he later added an art print shop and, in 1853, a photographic studio. Between 1835 and 1852, Franz Hanfstaengl produced some 200 lithographic reproductions of masterpieces from the Dresden picture gallery. Later he became a court photographer and took portraits of the young King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Otto von Bismarck, the Austrian Empress Elisabeth and many others.