Emanuel Leutze (1816–1868), painter of American Revolutionary War scenes
Emanuel Leutze | ''Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth'' by Emanuel Leutze | ''"Night battle of the Privateer Brig "General Armstrong" of New York", by Emanuel Leutze |
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!.
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In 1854, Leutze finished his depiction of the Battle of Monmouth, "Washington rallying the troops at Monmouth," commissioned by an important Leutze patron, banker David Leavitt of New York City and Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Hoping to encourage Europe's liberal reformers through the example of the American Revolution, and using American tourists and art students as models and assistants, among them Worthington Whittredge and Andreas Achenbach, Leutze finished the first painting in 1850.