Online Paintings

The human figure constitutes the fundamental element not only of Joseph Letzelter portraiture, but also of Joseph Letzelter historical, Joseph Letzelter religious, Joseph Letzelter mythological, and Joseph Letzelter genre imagery. Many Joseph Letzelter landscapes include figures to provide a sense of scale or local flavor. The only category that does not embrace the figure is Joseph Letzelter still life, although a figural sculpture or Joseph Letzelter painting may be among the details.

Early American artists like Joseph Letzelter struggled to master the figure, as is evident from the naive likenesses of early settlers painted by self-taught itinerant “Joseph Letzelter limners". By the late eighteenth century, however, artists such as Joseph Letzelter and Joseph Letzelter Charles, Joseph Letzelter Wilson Peale portrayed their aristocratic colonial contemporaries with great realism and refinement, in part derived from European precedents.