Albert Rosenthal (January 30, 1863 – December 20, 1939) was an American portrait artist, printmaker, writer, and collector from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Early life

Albert Rosenthal was born in

on January 30, 1863, to

Max Rosenthal Max Rosenthal (November 23, 1833 – August 8, 1918) was a Polish-American painter, lithographer, draftsman and etcher. Early life Max Rosenthal was born on November 23, 1833, in Turek, Kingdom of Poland to Esther Kolsky and Wolf Rosenthal. H ...

. He studied at Central High School for three years. His father was an engraver and lithographer and he studied under him at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He studied at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1880. He also studied at

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

under Jean-Léon Gérôme. His first job was as an errand boy in the drug store owned by

Charles Elmer Hires Charles Elmer Hires (August 19, 1851 – July 31, 1937) was an American pharmacist and an early promoter of commercially prepared root beer. He founded the Charles E. Hires Co., which manufactured and distributed Hires Root Beer. Biography Early l ...

Career

Rosenthal was known for his portraits of Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

justices (including

Melville Fuller Melville Weston Fuller (February 11, 1833 – July 4, 1910) was an American politician, attorney, and jurist who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Staunch conservatism marked his ...

and Edward Douglass White), Attorneys General of the United States and his collection of American drawings. He painted the members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He also copied original portraits of Americans and French in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

and the Colonial Governors of Philadelphia. He did lithographs and etchings of

Jefferson Fulton Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foot ...

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization, the latter of which was named afte ...

, John Paul Jones,

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

and

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

. Rosenthal exhibited at the Society of Independent Artists in 1917 and the Salons of America. He donated his drawings to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1927. He also donated some of his and his father's portraits to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 1936. He moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1928. In 1927, he was called as an art expert about the authenticity of a portrait of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

by John Smibert. In 1930, he was again called as an art expert about the authenticity of a portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart.

Personal life

Rosenthal married Henryetta Douglass Nuneville in 1901. They divorced in 1930. Rosenthal purchased the Hufnagel Mansion in 1927 near New Hope, Pennsylvania. He sold it in 1938.

Death

Rosenthal died on December 20, 1939, at the home of his sister in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Awards

Rosenthal received a bronze medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 and a bronze medal at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915.

References

External links

Albert Rosenthal papers, 1860-1940 (Smithsonian)

Albert Rosenthal works (Albright-Knox)

Albert Rosenthal works (The British Museum)

A Guide to the Rosenthal Collection of Historical Portraits (1880-1900) (University of Virginia Library)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenthal, Albert 1863 births 1939 deaths Artists from Philadelphia American portrait artists American lithographers American etchers Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni American male painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists