Emanuel Leutze was a German-born American painter, who represented Romanticism movement. His work, "Washington Crossing the Delaware", is among the most popular and widely reproduced images of an American historical event. Also, Emanuel was a representative of the Düsseldorf school of painting.
Background
Emanuel Leutze was born on May 24, 1816 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Württemberg, German Confederation (present-day Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany). When he was a child, his parents settled first in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and later, in 1925, in Philadelphia.
Education
The first development of his artistic talent occurred while Emanuel was attending the sickbed of his father, when he attempted drawing to occupy the long hours of waiting. At the age of fourteen, the boy started to sell his works in order to support himself after the death of his father.
Some time later, in 1834, Leutze studied art under the tutelage of John Rubens Smith. In the early 1840's, the painter attended Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he remained just for one year because of his anti-academic attitude. There, at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Emanuel's mentors included Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow and Karl Friedrich Lessing.
After leaving the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Leutze left for a tour throughout Europe, visiting such cities, as Munich, Rome and Venice, where he studied works of well-known painters, such as Peter von Cornelius, Titian and Michelangelo.
In 1845, after a tour in Italy, Leutze returned to Düsseldorf and remained there for the next fourteen years. During that time, he was primarily occupied with painting a series of canvases, based on the United States history. Moreover, while in Düsseldorf, Emanuel was a resource for visiting Americans: he found them places to live and work, provided introductions and emotional and even financial support.
Also, for many years, he held the post of the president of the Düsseldorf Artists' Association. In 1848, Emanuel acted as an early promoter of the "Malkasten" Art Association and some time later, in 1856, he headed the gathering of artists, which resulted in the founding of the Allgemeine Deutsche Kunstgenossenschaft.
In 1859, the painter left for the United States, where he divided his time between New York City and Washington, D.C. There, in the United States, Leutze produced portraits and in 1860, he was commissioned by the United States Congress to decorate a stairway in the Capitol at Washington, D.C., for which he painted a large composition, "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way", often erroneously called "Westward Ho". This work illustrates the settlement of the Far West.
Emanuel continued to paint until his death. At the time of his death, the painting, entitled "The Emancipation of the Slaves", was left unfinished.
Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British
Worthington Whittredge in His Tenth Street Studio
Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops
Washington Crossing the Delaware
Nathaniel Hawthorne
General Ambrose Burnside at Antietam
Politics
Emanuel was a strong supporter of Europe's Revolutions of 1848.
Membership
Emanuel was a member of the National Academy of Design and Union League Club of New York.
Düsseldorf Artists' Association
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Germany
National Academy of Design
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United States
Union League Club
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United States
Connections
In 1845, Emanuel married Juliane Lottner, with whom he had several children, including Ida Maria Leutze Wheeler and Eugene Henry Cozzens Leutze, who was an admiral of the United States Navy.