Emmanuel Leutze, by adoption an American, was born in the village of Emingen, near the city of Reutlingen, in Wurtemberg, on the 24th of May, 1816.  His father emigrated to America during the infancy of his son, and the future artist spent his youth in the city of Philadelphia and the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia.  He received a good common school education, and passed his time in comparative seclusion from society, reading and studying, but showing no especial fondness for art.  At length, during his father’s last illness, in which he nursed him with great devotion, he took up drawing to beguile the weary hours of the sick-room, and succeeded so well in his attempts that after his father’s death he continued his efforts under the instruction of a competent drawing master.  He improved rapidly, and was so well satisfied with his success that he determined to adopt the profession of an artist as the one best suited to his talents and inclination.

[Illustration:  FILIAL DEVOTION SHAPES A GREAT CAREER]

Having acquired considerable skill in drawing, he attempted rude portraits of men and beasts, and at length undertook to copy from memory a colored print after Westall.  He completed it, and resolved to show it to some of his friends.  In his impatience for the colors to dry, he placed the painting before the fire and went to summon his friends, but found, to his dismay, upon returning with them, that the heat had blistered the canvas so that the picture was hardly recognizable.  Yet, in spite of this, his critics saw such evidences of genius in the painting that they urged the young artist to continue his labors, and predicted a great success for him.

Leutze, however, was not willing to venture upon another composition, either partly or wholly original, but applied himself with zeal to learn the rudiments of his art, and with such success that when his portraits appeared at the Artist’s Fund Exhibition, a year or two later, they received high praise, both from critics and the public.  An enterprising publisher, attracted by these portraits, engaged him to go to Washington and paint the portraits of the leading statesmen of the country, to be engraved for a “national work.”  Leutze at once proceeded to the capital, full of hope and enthusiasm, but soon found that the schemes of the politicians whose faces he was to transmit to canvas engrossed them so much that they would not give him the sittings he desired.  After waiting impatiently for a considerable time he threw up the engagement in disgust, and went into the woods of Virginia to console himself by communing with nature.  For some time he wandered about, making desultory sketches, and abandoning himself to a melancholy which was closely akin to despair.  When this feeling was at its height, a friend, before unknown, came to his aid.