Leopold Bode
Christian Leopold Bode (11 March 1831 – July 1906) was a German historical painter and graphic artist.
Also recorded as christian leopold bode · l. bode · Leopold Von Bode · leopold bode
Leopold Bode

Leopold Bode · The Cleveland Museum of Art · In memory of Florence Fuller Grund · CC0
- Name
- Leopold Bode
- Born
- 11 March 1831
- Birthplace
- Offenbach am Main
- Died
- 26 July 1906
- Place of death
- Frankfurt am Main
- Movement
- Nazarene, Romanticism
- Education
- The Städel
- Nationality
- Grand Duchy of Hesse
- Occupation
- painter · graphic designer
- Fields
- history
- Languages
- German
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Christian Leopold Bode (11 March 1831 – July 1906) was a German historical painter and graphic artist.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Leopold Bode. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1819599 · wikipedia · Leopold Bode
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are history. Places of work recorded in the authority are Aachen. Work by Leopold Bode is recorded in the collections of Städel Museum, Bavarian State Painting Collections and Historical Museum Frankfurt.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Leopold Bode • Born — 11 March 1831 • Birthplace — Offenbach am Main • Died — 26 July 1906 • Place of death — Frankfurt am Main • Movement — Nazarene, Romanticism • Education — The Städel
Life
Life
Bode was born in Offenbach am Main. He was the eldest of the landscape painter Georg Wilhelm Bode (1801–1881) and his wife Anna Maria's three sons. From 1848 he studied at the Städel in Frankfurt under Professors Jakob Becker and Johann David Passavant. In 1851 he placed himself under the tutelage of Eduard von Steinle and married Catharina Elisabeth Geiger (1826–1856). After graduating in 1859, he married Catharina's sister Mary Margaret, with whom he had three children. For many years he had a studio at the Städel and in Isenburg Castle in Offenbach, the latter of which inspired numerous exterior and interior views in his paintings. In 1901 on the day of Bode's seventieth birthday, Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse bestowed upon him the title of Professor. Bode died 26 July 1906 in Frankfurt, and was buried in the Old Cemetery in Offenbach. In 2011 Bode's diary, which had been lost during World War II, was found and donated to the Offenbach city archive, which also acquired a bundle with 45 of Bode's graphic depictions of landscapes and historical motifs.
Work
Work
Bode was heavily influenced by the religiously-inspired Nazarene style before later pivoting to historical Romanticism, genre painting, and portraiture. His first important painting was his 1855 depiction of the Visitation: "Visit of Mary to Elizabeth". From 1861 to 1864 he worked as Steinle's assistant at the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne. Both men then worked until 1866 painting the chancel niches in the Coronation Monastery of St. Mary in Aachen and collaborated on painting Löwestein Castle's chapel in 1870. In 1880 he helped paint the stairwell and lunettes at the Frankfurt Opera House, after which he painted a series of portraits of prominent citizens of Offenbach. In 1896 he painted the niches in the mourning hall of Frankfurt's southern cemetery and in 1897 he created an altarpiece for the newly built St. Paul's Church of Strasbourg.
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — alt= The Alpine Bride, oil on canvas, 1864 • Illustration — alt= A Mother with Her Child, 1865 • Illustration — alt= Pippin and Bertha, triptych, 1876 • Illustration — alt= Charlemagne Discovers Frankfurt, watercolor, 1888 • Illustration — alt= Grave of Leopold Bode, Offenbach Old Cemetery
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings christian leopold bode, l. bode, Leopold Von Bode, leopold bode and prof. Leopold bode. His recorded language was German. He was the child of Georg Wilhelm Bode. One child is recorded: Johannes Daniel Bode.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1831
Leopold Bode was born in 1831 at Offenbach am Main.
1906
Leopold Bode died in 1906 at Frankfurt.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Offenbach am Main.
Birth place
Frankfurt.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Leopold Bode”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1819599: Leopold Bode
General reference · Wikidata
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
18,717 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Leontios PetmezasArtist
- Leontiy MiropolskiyArtist
- Leopold August AbelArtist
- Leopold BlauensteinerArtist
- Leopold BucherArtist
- Leopold BuczkowskiArtist
- Leopold Graf von KalckreuthArtist
- Leopold LoefflerArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Leopold Bode?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.