Peter Frederick Rothermel

Rothermel was born c. 1817 in Nescopeck, Pennsylvania. He studied as a painter with John Rowson Smith and Bass Otis. Although he began his career as a portraitist, he later made his name as a history painter. On his return from Rome in 1859, he was commissioned by the federal government to produce a large-scale history painting of the Battle of Gettysburg. He continued to paint until the 1880s and died in 1895.