Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (mural study, U.S. Capitol)
Catalogue
- Year
- 1861
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 33 1/4 x 43 3/8 in. (84.5 x 110.1 cm.)
- Collection
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Artist
- Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Artist
Painting
A German-born immigrant to the United States, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze painted large, dramatic scenes from United States history imbued with patriotic emotionalism. Educated at the renowned Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Leutze’s highly finished canvases and careful rendering of detail made him a leading artist of the Düsseldorf school. His best-known work, the iconic Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851), remains one of the most recognizable and widely reproduced images of American history.
Full artist profile →More
More by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Profile of a Man
1865 · graphite on the reverse of a hotel menu
Political Cartoon of the American Civil War
1860 · pen and black ink over graphite on blue-gray laid paper
Camp Ellsworth, Near Alexandria—Five Zouaves
1860 · graphite and gouache on wove paper
Horse
1860 · graphite on wove paper
New York—Street Scene
1859 · graphite and wash on blue-gray laid paper
Study for "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way"
1857 · graphite on gray-green wove paper
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
- Year
- 1861
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 33 1/4 x 43 3/8 in. (84.5 x 110.1 cm.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1861-073374
Source
- Collection
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Source
- smithsonian
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified