The New International Encyclopædia/Leutze, Emanuel

LEUTZE, loit'se, Emanuel (1810-68). A German-American historical painter of the Düsseldorf school. He was born in Gemünd, Württemberg. May 24, 1816. His parents came to the United States, settling first in Philadelphia, then at Fredericksburg, Va. He received his first instruction in art from J. A. Smith, a portrait painter, in Philadelphia. In 1840 one of his pictures attracted attention and procured him several orders, which enabled him to go to Düsseldorf, where he studied with Lessing. In 1842 he went to Munich. studying the works of Cornelius and Kaulbach, and the following year he visited Venice and Rome. In 1845 he returned to Düsseldorf and was married, making his home there for fourteen years. He devoted himself to American, Spanish, and English historical subjects, especially to the famous series of pictures of the Revolution, of which "Washington Crossing the Delaware" is the finest. In 1859 he returned to the United States: in 1860 he received the commission for the fresco on the staircase of the Capitol at Washington, entitled "Westward the Star of Empire Takes Its Way." In 1860 he was elected a member of the National Academy. He died in Washington, D. C., July 18, 1868. leaving several large cartoons for the decoration of the Senate Chamber.

Leutze is more famous for the subjects than for the technical qualities of his paintings. His color is often crude and his drawing academic, yet his composition is good and his figures show a high power of individualization. The most important works are: "Columbus Before the Council of Salamanca" (1841), purchased by the Dusseldorf Art Union: "Columbus in Chains" (1842): "Columbus Before the Queen;" "Landing of the Norsemen in America." Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia: "Cromwell and His Daughter;" "The Court of Queen Elizabeth;" "Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn" (1858); "The Iconoclast;" "Washington at Monmouth;" "Washington at the Battle of Monongahcla ;" "News from Lexington;" "Washington at Princeton;" "Lafayette in Prison at Olmütz visited by his Relatives" (1801); "Westward Ho;" portraits of Washington, Lincoln, Grant, and General Burnside; "Washington Crossing the Delaware" (1851-52), Metropolitan Museum, New York, and Kunsthalle, Bremen.