Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze

Style: Romanticism;

Place: Schwäbisch Gmünd

Born: 1816

Death: 1868

Biography:

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze was a German American history painter best known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Born in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Württemberg, Germany, Leutze was brought to the United States as a child and later became one of the most prominent painters of his time.

Early Life and Education

Leutze's artistic talent developed while attending his father's sickbed, where he attempted drawing to occupy the long hours of waiting. After his father's death in 1831, Leutze supported himself by painting portraits for $5 apiece. He received his first instruction in art at the classes of John Rubens Smith, a portrait painter in Philadelphia.

Europe and Influences

In 1840, Leutze attended the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany, where he was influenced by the painter Karl Friedrich Lessing. He also studied the works of Cornelius and Kaulbach in Munich and made studies from Titian and Michelangelo in Venice and Rome. Leutze's first work, Columbus before the Council of Salamanca, was purchased by the Düsseldorf Art Union.

New York City and Washington, D.C.

In 1859, Leutze returned to the United States and opened a studio in New York City. He divided his time between New York City and Washington, D.C., where he painted a portrait of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, which hangs in the Harvard Law School. Leutze also executed other portraits, including one of fellow painter William Morris Hunt.

• Notable works: Washington Crossing the Delaware, Columbus before the Council of Salamanca, and Angel on the Battlefield.
• Museums: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kunsthalle Bremen, and Harvard Law School.
• Influences: Karl Friedrich Lessing, Cornelius, Kaulbach, Titian, and Michelangelo.

For more information on Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, visit Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze or Emanuel Leutze on Wikipedia. You can also explore his paintings, such as Washington Crossing the Delaware and Angel on the Battlefield, on Wikioo.org.