Eastman Johnson, Studies in Dusseldorf

Eastman Johnson's copy of Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware"

"By the summer of 1849, Eastman Johnson and an artist friend, George Henry Hall, had determined to further their training in a foreign academy. The advocacy of the Dusseldorf Academy by Hall's patron appears to have been convincing enough for the two to apply there.

He also began studies under American artist Emanuel Leutze in an immense atelier which Leutze rented with two others beside himself forming an atmosphere and an aspect of art not less delightful than it is improving,' and he added, 'I regret now that I have not been with him during my entire stay in Dusseldorf.' 

 

The large picture on which Leutze was at work was a second version of 'Washington Crossing the Delaware, the first having been damaged in a studio fire the previous November. While Leutze painted the full-scale canvas with the assistance of such atelier members as Andreas Achenbach and the young American Worthington Whittredge, Johnson devoted his energies to the production of a smaller replica to be used in the production of an engraving. The project was surely the most significant of Johnson's Dusseldorf experience, linking the young student to one of the most celebrated productions of his widely recognized master.

 

Johnson found progress in his art hard won. He wrote: 'I am painting away with men companions and very diligently, trying to get the hang of it, which I find I assure you no easy matter. I do nothing in my old way of crayons.' In March he was already setting his sights on a move and was talking of Paris. He also mentioned the possibility of traveling 'to see the fine pictures of Holland. Since Leutze was also leaving Germany for the States, there was nothing to hold Johnson in Germany."

 

To be continued

 

(Excerpts from "Eastman Johnson: Painting America" by Teresa Carbone and Patricia Hills.)