David Dalhoff Neal - Piloty Studio Years (1869-1876)

Piloty Studio Years (1869-1876)

In 1869 he entered the studio of Alexander Wagner, then Karl von Piloty. Under Piloty, Neal's first painting was a portrait of James Watt, which was exhibited in London where it was purchased by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Benjamin S. Phillips. Just a few months later, Neal's mentor and father-in-law Max died on David and Marie's eighth wedding anniversary. Around the same time, Marie gave birth to their second son, Heinrich Neal, who later would become Kapellmeister at Heidelberg. Around the same time Neal painted Retour de Chasse (1870) which later became known as After the Chase, an oil-on-canvas still life that became one of his first great successes. In 1873 Neal had an exhibition back in California at the San Francisco Art Academy. He later painted The First Meeting of Mary Stuart and Rizzio, which won him the great medal of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Art, the first awarded to an American. He stayed at the studio till 1876.