Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Schussele, Christian

SCHUSSELE, Christian, artist, b. in Guebvillers, Alsace, 16 April, 1824; d. in Merchantville, N. J., 20 Aug., 1879. He studied under Adolphe Yvon and Paul Delaroche in 1842-'8 and then came to the United States. Here, for some time, he worked at chromo-lithography. which he had also followed in France, but later he devoted himself almost entirely to painting. His best-known works are “Clear the Track” (1851); “Franklin before the Lords in Council” (1856); “Men of Progress” (1857), in Cooper institute, New York; “Zeisberger preaching to the Indians” (1859); “The Iron-Worker and King Solomon” (1860); “Washington at Valley Forge” (1862); and “Home on Furlough” and “McClellan at Antietam” (1863). About 1863 he was attacked by palsy in the right hand, and in 1865 he went abroad, undergoing severe treatment, with no apparent benefit. On his return, in 1868, he was elected to fill the chair, then founded, of drawing and painting in the Pennsylvania academy, which he held until his death. During this period he produced “Queen Esther denouncing Haman,” owned by the academy (1869), and “The Alsatian Fair” (1870). Most of the paintings that have been named became widely known through the large prints by John Sartain and other engravers.