Georg Schmitz was born in 1851. He became a landscape and marine painter, active in Hamburg. From 1866/70 he was a student at the Düsseldorf Akademy, along with Andreas and Karl Müller and Osw Achenbach. Scmitz then spent some time in Berlin. In 1876 he went to visit the construction class of gen. Akad. (Lotz) and then moved to Hamburg.