Adolf Chelius was a German painter and watercolorist born in 1856 in Frankfurt am Main. He studied at the Art Academy in Berlin and Vienna before attending the Städel Art Institute in Frankfurt am Main. Chelius became acquainted with Anton Burger and found connection to the artists' colony Kronberg. In 1882, he moved to Munich and went on numerous study trips between 1885 and 1895, including to Palermo, Madrid, St. Petersburg, and the North Cape. He died in Munich in 1923.