Artist, printmaker and poet Karl Bauer was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany and studied under Wilhelm von Lindenschmit at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and travels in Italy and France, financed by private instruction and portrait work. Bauer met Stefan George in Venice, whom he painted and who, impressed by Bauer's art and poetry, invited the younger man to join his Munich circle. Bauer subsequently studied in Paris and returned to Munich in 1895, where he worked as an illustrator. His portraits were executed in the manner of the Northern Renaissance, and included many German historical figures. His classical style won the approval of the National Socialists, and Bauer made several portraits of Hitler and his fellow aesthetes. In 1930, Bauer returned to the Stuttgart area in 1938 was awarded the Goethe Medal for Art and Science; he died during a visit to Munich.