Adolph von Menzel: The Titan of Prussian Realism Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel (1815-1905) stands as one of the undisputed giants of German Romantic and Realist painting, alongside Caspar David Friedrich. Born in Breslau (now Wrocław), Prussia, into a family steeped in lithography—his father actively engaged in the craft—Menzel’s artistic trajectory was shaped by an early fascination with drawing and etching, nurtured not solely…