Born in Germany, American historical painter Emanuel Leutze (1816-1868) is best-known for creating large scale masterpieces depicting evocative, national scenes. Enduring symbols of American patriotism, his most iconic paintings hang in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Harvard Law School. In 1860, Congress commissioned Leutze to decorate a stairway in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. where it is seen on a daily basis.