Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British1852

Not on view

Oil painting of five figures reacting to a wheat field fire, with a crouching figure holding a metal bucket, a woman in a teal skirt reaching toward flames, children, and a black dog at left

Artist or Maker: Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Germany, Gmünd, active United States, 1816-1868
Title: Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1852
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 32 x 40 in. (81.28 x 101.6 cm)
Credit Line: Bicentennial gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Schaaf, Mr. and Mrs. William D. Witherspoon, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Shoemaker, and Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr.
Accession Number: M.76.91
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: American Art
Curatorial Notes: Leutze returned to this country from Düsseldorf in September 1851 to be present during the exhibition in New York and Washington of his phenomenally successful showpiece Washington Crossing the Delaware. By February 1852, working in his New York studio, he had begun Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British. It was to be the second of some dozen subjects from the Revolutionary War that he was to paint, capitalizing on the fact that the sensational response to his Washington Crossing the Delaware was henceforth to link his name with such subject matter. Patriotic feelings stirred by the Mexican American War had already inspired patronage for other artists’ efforts on such themes.
Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler (1734-1803), wife of General Philip Schuyler, is shown setting fire to her wheat fields to keep them from the enemy, whose imminent arrival is announced by a messenger. The first account of this act of heroism to appear in print was a passage in the chapter on Mrs. Schuyler in Elizabeth F. Ellet’s The Women of the American Revolution (1848), one of the many anthologies of Revolutionary War feminine heroism popular during the period. It was based on the account of Mrs. Schuyler written in 1846 by Catherine Van Rensselaer Cochrane, Mrs. Schuyler’s youngest daughter. Surviving documents do not support this family tradition, however. Although General Schuyler pursued a scorched-earth policy and Mrs. Schuyler traveled twice to the estate to pack furnishings during July 1777, the British under John Burgoyne arrived at Saratoga (now called Schuylerville) on September 13 to find the large plantation virtually intact.
The painting reflects the skillful history painting tradition of Düsseldorf in its clearly subordinated composition and use of antique sculptural models for two of the figures.
Leutze’s freedom in adding genrelike secondary activity of his own invention is balanced by his efforts to obtain an accurate portrayal of Mrs. Schuyler by studying a portrait in the family’s possession (probably one now in the New-York Historical Society). Leutze’s reputation as an outstanding colorist is supported by the painting’s rich harmonies.
Provenance: Charles M. Leupp, New York, by 1856 (sale, National Academy of Design, New York, Catalogue of Valuable Paintings and Engravings, Being the Entire Gallery of the Late Charles M. Leupp, Esq., . . . to Be Sold at Auction by E. H. Ludlow and Co., 1860, no. 23, as Mrs. Schuyler Firing Her Wheat Fields) § Francis Lieber Alphonso Thill, New Haven, Conn., as of 1895 § Private collection, Connecticut § With Vose Galleries, Boston, 1976.

Charles Mortimer Leupp (1809–1859), New York, by 1856 (sale, New York, E. H. Ludlow and Co., held at the National Academy of Design, 13 November 1860, lot 23, “Catalogue of Valuable Paintings and Engravings, Being the Entire Gallery of the Late Charles M. Leupp, Esq.”). Francis Lieber Alphonso Thill, New Haven, Connecticut, by 1895. Private collection, Connecticut. [Vose Galleries, Boston, sold 1976 to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Howat, John K. and Voorsanger, Catherine. Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861. New York and New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2000.
Berkin, Carol; Cherny, Robert W.; Gormly, James L.; Mainwearing, W. Thomas; and Miller, Christopher L. Making America: A History of the United States. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.
Fort, Ilene Susan and Michael Quick. American Art: a Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.
LACMA: Obras Maestras 1750-1950: Pintura Estadounidense Del Museo De Arte Del Condado De Los Angeles. Mexico, D.F.: Museo Nacional de Arte, 2006.

Related Unframed

Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British1852

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Germany, Gmünd, active United States, 1816-1868
Title: Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1852
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 32 x 40 in. (81.28 x 101.6 cm)
Credit Line: Bicentennial gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Schaaf, Mr. and Mrs. William D. Witherspoon, Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Shoemaker, and Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr.
Accession Number: M.76.91
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: American Art
Curatorial Notes: Leutze returned to this country from Düsseldorf in September 1851 to be present during the exhibition in New York and Washington of his phenomenally successful showpiece Washington Crossing the Delaware. By February 1852, working in his New York studio, he had begun Mrs. Schuyler Burning Her Wheat Fields on the Approach of the British. It was to be the second of some dozen subjects from the Revolutionary War that he was to paint, capitalizing on the fact that the sensational response to his Washington Crossing the Delaware was henceforth to link his name with such subject matter. Patriotic feelings stirred by the Mexican American War had already inspired patronage for other artists’ efforts on such themes.
Catherine Van Rensselaer Schuyler (1734-1803), wife of General Philip Schuyler, is shown setting fire to her wheat fields to keep them from the enemy, whose imminent arrival is announced by a messenger. The first account of this act of heroism to appear in print was a passage in the chapter on Mrs. Schuyler in Elizabeth F. Ellet’s The Women of the American Revolution (1848), one of the many anthologies of Revolutionary War feminine heroism popular during the period. It was based on the account of Mrs. Schuyler written in 1846 by Catherine Van Rensselaer Cochrane, Mrs. Schuyler’s youngest daughter. Surviving documents do not support this family tradition, however. Although General Schuyler pursued a scorched-earth policy and Mrs. Schuyler traveled twice to the estate to pack furnishings during July 1777, the British under John Burgoyne arrived at Saratoga (now called Schuylerville) on September 13 to find the large plantation virtually intact.
The painting reflects the skillful history painting tradition of Düsseldorf in its clearly subordinated composition and use of antique sculptural models for two of the figures.
Leutze’s freedom in adding genrelike secondary activity of his own invention is balanced by his efforts to obtain an accurate portrayal of Mrs. Schuyler by studying a portrait in the family’s possession (probably one now in the New-York Historical Society). Leutze’s reputation as an outstanding colorist is supported by the painting’s rich harmonies.
Provenance: Charles M. Leupp, New York, by 1856 (sale, National Academy of Design, New York, Catalogue of Valuable Paintings and Engravings, Being the Entire Gallery of the Late Charles M. Leupp, Esq., . . . to Be Sold at Auction by E. H. Ludlow and Co., 1860, no. 23, as Mrs. Schuyler Firing Her Wheat Fields) § Francis Lieber Alphonso Thill, New Haven, Conn., as of 1895 § Private collection, Connecticut § With Vose Galleries, Boston, 1976.

Charles Mortimer Leupp (1809–1859), New York, by 1856 (sale, New York, E. H. Ludlow and Co., held at the National Academy of Design, 13 November 1860, lot 23, “Catalogue of Valuable Paintings and Engravings, Being the Entire Gallery of the Late Charles M. Leupp, Esq.”). Francis Lieber Alphonso Thill, New Haven, Connecticut, by 1895. Private collection, Connecticut. [Vose Galleries, Boston, sold 1976 to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Howat, John K. and Voorsanger, Catherine. Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861. New York and New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2000.
Berkin, Carol; Cherny, Robert W.; Gormly, James L.; Mainwearing, W. Thomas; and Miller, Christopher L. Making America: A History of the United States. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.
Fort, Ilene Susan and Michael Quick. American Art: a Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.
LACMA: Obras Maestras 1750-1950: Pintura Estadounidense Del Museo De Arte Del Condado De Los Angeles. Mexico, D.F.: Museo Nacional de Arte, 2006.