An elaborate illuminated border, illustrative of the advance of civilization in the West, surrounds the painting, and is in itself one of the most perfect works of art in the Capitol.

Leutze received the sum of $20,000 for this painting.  After completing it, some matters connected with his family required him to make a visit to Dusseldorf, and upon reaching that place he was warmly welcomed by the artists, on the 10th of June, 1863, at their club.  “About one hundred and fifty lords of art,” says a letter from Dusseldorf, “assembled at the ‘Mahlkasten,’ just outside of the Hof-Garten.  This is the club-house of the painters, and, with its gardens, is their property.  Leutze was received with music, and when he came within reach of the assembled company, there was a general rush to shake his hands, kiss his cheeks, and hug him.  The old fellows were much affected at the scene, and were heartily glad to see their old companion once more.  The guest made a short and feeling address, whereupon all went in to supper.  Here two of the artists had arrayed themselves, one as a negro, the other as an Indian; and these brought in the first dishes and handed them to Leutze.  Andreas Achenbach sat at Leutze’s right, and his old friend Tryst at his left.  After dinner, the calumet cf peace was passed around; there was speaking and drinking of healths, with songs afterward in the illuminated garden.  The occasion appears to have been a very pleasant and right merry one, and is said to have been the happiest festival ever given by the Society of Artists.”

Returning to the United States a few months later, Leutze repaired to Washington, where he had permanently settled.  He was given several commissions by the Government, and at once began to design his subjects.  They were only in the cartoon, however, at the time of his death.  One of these, “Civilization,” was to have been placed in the Senate Chamber, and was partly finished.  It is said to have given promise of being his finest production.  He also left a sketch of an immense picture, “The Emancipation.”  He was always a hard worker, and this doubtless contributed to bring about his death, which took place on the 18th of July, 1868.  The immediate cause was apoplexy, superinduced by the intense heat.

“Mr. Leutze,” says a writer in the Annual Cyclopedia, “was altogether the best educated artist in America, possessed of vast technical learning, of great genius, and fine powers of conception.  His weakest point was in his coloring, but even here he was superior to most others.”

“Leutze,” says Mr. Tuckerman, “delights in representing adventure.  He ardently sympathizes with chivalric action and spirit-stirring events:  not the abstractly beautiful or the simply true, but the heroic, the progressive, the individual, and earnest phases of life, warm his fancy and attract his pencil.  His forte is the dramatic....  If Leutze were not a painter, he would certainly join some expedition