Emanuel Leutze

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (May 24, 1816 – July 18, 1868) was a German-born American painter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leutze was born in Schw?bisch Gm?nd, W?rttemberg, Germany but was brought to America as a child. He was notable for his famous historical painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. It is owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the age of twenty-five he had earned enough to take himself to D?sseldorf for a course of art study at the Royal Academy. Almost immediately he began painting historical subjects, his first work, Columbus before the Council of Salamanca was purchased by the D?sseldorf Art Union.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1859, Leutze painted a portrait of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney which hangs in the Harvard Law School. In a 1992 opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia described the portrait of Taney, made two years after Taney's infamous decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, as showing Taney "in black, sitting in a shadowed red armchair, left hand resting upon a pad of paper in his lap, right hand hanging limply, almost lifelessly, beside the inner arm of the chair. He sits facing the viewer and staring straight out. There seems to be on his face, and in his deep-set eyes, an expression of profound sadness and disillusionment."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Late in life, he became a member of the National Academy of Design.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He died in Washington, D.C. in his 53rd year.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

May 24: May 24 is the 144th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (145th in leap years). There are 221 days remaining....

1816: 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar)....

July 18: July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining....

Emanuel Leutze related Images and Photos (experimental)

Emanuel Swedenborg	Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)	Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach C.1733	Emanuel Swedenborg Swedish Engineer and Mystic
Emanuel Swedenborg Swedish Engineer and Mystic	Portrait of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach C.1780