Max Rosenthal was born in Turck, Kingdom of Poland on 23 November 1833. In 1847 he went to Paris, where he studied lithography, drawing, and painting with M. Thurwanger, with whom he came to Philadelphia in 1849, and completed his studies. He made the chromolithographic plates for what is believed to be the first fully illustrated book by this process in the United States, “Wild Scenes and Wild Hunters.” In 1854 he drew and lithographed an interior view of the old Masonic temple in Philadelphia, the plate being 22 by 25 inches, the largest chromolithograph that had been made in the country up to that time.

Rosenthal designed and executed the illustrations for various works, and during the Civil War followed the Army of the Potomac, and drew every camp, up to the Battle of Gettysburg. These drawings he reproduced at the time. Up to 1884 he did miscellaneous works, including about 200 lithographs of distinguished Americans.

After 1884 he turned his attention to etching, and executed over 150 portraits of eminent Americans and British officers, together with numerous large plates. He is the father of artist Albert Rosenthal