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    Emanuel Gottleib Leutze

    Birth: 5-24-1816

    Death: 7-18-1868

Biography

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze was a German-born American historical painter whose picture Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) numbers among the most popular and widely reproduced images of an American historical event. Leutze was brought to the United States as a child. In 1841 he returned to Germany to study at the Academy in Düsseldorf. He remained in Germany for almost 20 years and was primarily occupied with painting a series of canvases based on U.S. history. Sentimental and anecdotal in content, they are painstakingly executed in the highly finished style of the Düsseldorf school, characterized by firm drawing, careful rendering of detail, and filled-in colour. Arguably Leutze’s best-known work, Washington Crossing the Delaware became a symbol of American patriotism although it was originally meant to energize Germans who had been defeated in the Revolution of 1848.

Letter References

Letter from Anna Wharton Seward to Frances Miller Seward, July 23, 1861

Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to William Henry Seward, August 25, 1861

Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to Lazette Miller Worden, February 1, 1863

Letter from Frances Miller Seward to Lazette Miller Worden, March 17, 1859

Letter from Frances Adeline Seward to Lazatte Miller Worden, January 23, 1863

Citations

Biography and Citation Information:
Biography: 
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze was a German-born American historical painter whose picture Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) numbers among the most popular and widely reproduced images of an American historical event. Leutze was brought to the United States as a child. In 1841 he returned to Germany to study at the Academy in Düsseldorf. He remained in Germany for almost 20 years and was primarily occupied with painting a series of canvases based on U.S. history. Sentimental and anecdotal in content, they are painstakingly executed in the highly finished style of the Düsseldorf school, characterized by firm drawing, careful rendering of detail, and filled-in colour. Arguably Leutze’s best-known work, Washington Crossing the Delaware became a symbol of American patriotism although it was originally meant to energize Germans who had been defeated in the Revolution of 1848.
Citation Notes: 
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/337776/Emanuel-Gottlieb-Leutze
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Biography: 
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. In 1859, he painted a portrait of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney which hangs in the Harvard Law School. In 1860 Leutze was commissioned by the U.S. Congress to decorate a stairway in the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, for which he painted a large composition, Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way, which is also commonly known as Westward Ho!. Late in life, he became a member of the National Academy of Design. He was also a member of the Union League Club of New York, which has a number of his paintings. He died in Washington, D.C. of heatstroke at the age of 52. He was interred at Glenwood Cemetery.
Citation Notes: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Leutze
Citation for Birth Info:
Citation Notes: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Leutze https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2433/emanuel-gottlieb-leutze
Citation for Death Info:
Citation Notes: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Leutze https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2433/emanuel-gottlieb-leutze