George Hetzel

George Hetzel

Public Domain

Quick Facts

Place of Birth:

Hangviller, France

Date of Birth:

January 17, 1826

Place of Death:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Date of Death:

July 4, 1899

Place of Burial:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Cemetery Name:

Homewood Cemetery

In 1887, George Hetzel was commissioned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club to create a painting for the Club House.

George Hetzel was born in France in 1826 and emigrated to America in 1828 with his family. They settled in Allegheny City, in Pittsburgh. He attended public school in this city and was an apprentice for a house and sign painter and later a local artisan. After his artistic talent was realized, he studied art at the Dusseldorf Art Academy in Germany in 1847. He returned to America two years later. Within a year, he was commissioned to do portrait and still life paintings. Through these commissions he was able to live the life of a professional artist and maintained a studio on Fourth Street in Pittsburgh. 

Hetzel became a prolific painter and had exhibitions in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. In 1870, he was elected president of the Pittsburgh Artists Association and principal at the Pittsburgh School of Design for Women.

He is considered the father of the Scalp Level School of painting. It was on a fishing trip that he discovered an area not far from Johnstown, PA, near the confluence of the Paint and Little Paint Creeks called Scalp Level. He was so struck by the beauty of the area that he influenced every faculty member of the Pittsburgh School of Design, where he taught a class in oil landscape painting, to accompany him the following summer to paint landscapes from nature. These fellow artists and students became known as Scalp Level Artists. 

In 1887, Hetzel was commissioned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club to create a painting for the Club House. Fisherman on the Conemaugh is an oil on canvas. It was delivered in July 1887. The Pittsburgh Bulletin reported that Hetzel stayed at the Club House for several days, and "received the hearty thanks and congratulations of all here." It was also stated that the painting hung in the Club House parlor. 

On February 15, 1904, an auction was held to sell off many of the mementos of the club. George M. Wertz, Johnstown native and member of the House of Representatives, purchased several items including Fisherman on the Conemaugh. It was donated to Johnstown Flood National Memorial in 2010 by his grandson and is currently on display in the Visitor Center.

Hetzel is considered one of Pennsylvania's most significant landscape, portrait and still life painters of the 19th century.

He died at age 73 on July 4, 1899.