At the age of 15, Eduard Schleich entered the Munich Academy to study historical painting, though he left after only a short time there. Under the influence of Carl Rottmann, Thomas Fearnley, Christian Ezdorf, and Christian Morgenstern, Schleich produced numerous landscapes which he painted based on his memories and sketches of his many wanderings in the Alps. These early, wide format works, whose motives came from the area immediately surrounding Munich, nonetheless retained a certain darkness in their coloring. Schleich traveled to northern Italy in 1843 with Christian Morgenstern, though this journey didn't have any noteworthy effect on his painting. His style actually changed in 1848, when he began intensively studying the works of the 17th century Dutch masters. His palette was now filled with warmer colors and the composition and character of his works showed the influence of Rubens. In 1851, Schleich traveled with Carl Spitzweg and other artists to Paris and London, also attending the World's Fair. After his return, traces of the sketchy style of the Barbizon school, which he encountered in France, could be seen in his works. In the following years, Schleich produced his famous, light-filled landscapes of the Upper Bavarian lake areas, which led to the prestige he enjoyed during his lifetime and established him as the founder of the Munich school of landscape painting. The artist was assigned the organization of the International Art Exhibition in Munich which took place in 1869. He took his last great journey to Rome in 1872. In 1874, the renowned painter Schleich died at the age of 72 in Munich.