Emanuel Leutze

Emanuel Leutze, born Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Kingdom of Württemberg, in 1816, became a pivotal figure in American history painting. He immigrated to the United States as a child in 1825, settling first in Virginia and then Philadelphia. His artistic talent emerged early; by age 14, he was painting portraits to support himself after his father's death in 1831. He received his first formal art instruction in 1834 from John Rubens Smith in Philadelphia. In…