1895.J dJo [Rosengarten. 



Memoir of P. F. Rothermel. 



By Joseph G, Rosengarten, 



(Read before the American Philosophical Society, November 1, 1895.) 



Peter F. Rothermel, who died August 15, 1895, in his eighty-third 

 year, was elected a memher of the American Philosophical Societj', 

 January 17, 1873, in recognition of his distinction as an artist. Born at 

 Nescopach, Luzerne county. Pa., July 18, 1812, he came to Philadelphia 

 in 1830, where, after the ordinary common school education, his father 

 put him to studying land surveying, ignoring the boy's decided tendency 

 to artistic pursuits, indicated at a very early age. At twenty-two he 

 overcame paternal opposition and began to study art under John R. 

 Smith and later under Bass Otis, a portrait painter. At thirty he mar- 

 ried and settled to work in what was then known as "Art Row," on 

 Sansom street, east of Eighth. From 1847 to 1855 he was a Director of 

 the Academy of Fine Arts ; in 1856 he went abroad for three years, 

 studying in Rome and in other Italian cities, and in England, France, 

 Germany and Belgium, thus equipping himself for his profession. In 

 1859, on his return home, he was elected a member of the Academy and 

 gave his pupils the benefit of his own studies. 



Among his well-known hi5torical pictures are " De Soto Discovering 

 the Mississippi," "Columbus Before Isabella the Catholic," "The Em- 

 barkation of Columbus," a series of pictures illustrating Prescotl's 

 History of the Conquest of Mexico, "Van Dyke and Rubens," "King 

 Lear," "The Virtuoso," "Christian Martyrs in the Coliseum," "Patrick 

 Henry before the Virginia House of Burgesses," "Paul at Ephesu?, " 

 "Paul Preaching on Mars Hill," "Paul Before Agrippa," "Trial of Sir 

 Henry Vane," "The Landsknecht," "St. Agnes" (owned in St. 

 Petersburg), " Christabel," and " Katharme and Petruchio." Many of 

 them have been engraved, thus spreading his fame and making his work 

 known far and wide, so that he was recognized as one of our leading 

 artists. After the close of the Civil War he was commissioned by the State 

 of Pennsylvania to paint a picture illustrating the Battle of Gettysburg, 

 and this great canvas, surrounded by a series of sketches of episodes in 

 the battle, now hangs in the Stale Capitol at Harrisburg. 



Even in liis old age he loved his art and was a friendly critic of young 

 artists, making them happy by his sympathy and encouragement, and he 

 was a welcome guest at all their meetings, where he revived the traditions 

 of his own early associates — David Edwin, the engraver, a storyteller of 

 great excellence, who set the table in a roar after the first round of 

 punch ; Russell Smith, Thomas A&hton, Joseph Kyle, Thomas Officer, 

 Holmes — at the meetings of the old Artists' Fund, at the hotel in George 

 street above Sixtli. His old age was graceful and genial, and his memory 



