Peter F. Rothermel

Peter Frederick Rothermel (July 8, 1812 – August 15, 1895) was an American painter.

Early life and education Rothermel was born in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania on July 8, 1812, although various sources give his birth year as 1813, 1814, and 1817. The artist's gravestone in Philadelphia gives the date as 1812. He had a common-school education, and studied land surveying. At age 20, he moved to Philadelphia and became a sign painter. Then at age 22, he took up the study of art. He was instructed in drawing by John Rubens Smith, and subsequently became a pupil of Bass Otis in Philadelphia.

He specialized in portraits and dramatic historical paintings. His most famous paintings include Patrick Henry Before the Virginia House of Burgesses (1851), now at the Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial, and a massive oil painting of the Battle of Gettysburg titled Battle of Gettysburg: Pickett's Charge that hangs in the State Museum of Pennsylvania. This latter work was commissioned by Gettysburg lawyer David McConaughy. Another of his more popular historical works is Columbus Before the Queen, painted in 1844. He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1873.

In 1877, he moved from Philadelphia to Grassmere, his country estate near present-day Linfield, Pennsylvania, where he resided until his death. His estate still exists today on Limerick Center Road; it is now a residential site. Rothermel's son, Peter F. Rothermel, Jr., was District Attorney of Philadelphia.

Gallery of works

Other works Other works of Rothermel include: Christabel Katherine and Petruchio De Soto discovering the Mississippi (1844) Embarkation of Columbus Christian Martyrs in the Colisseum A series of paintings illustrative of William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico (about 1850) The Virtuoso (1855) Vandyke and Rubens (1856) St. Agnes (1858) Paul at Ephesus Paul before Agrippa St. Paul preaching on Mars Hill to the Athenians Trial of Sir Henry Vane The Landsknecht (1876) Bacchantes (1884)