Mathilde Mueden Leisenring (1870-1949)

[John Crowther]

This perhaps should come under the heading of delightful personal surprises. When I was a child in the 40's one of my greatest treats was visiting my Great Uncle Morris (from whom I got my middle name) and my Great Aunt Mathilde. They had a beautiful old D.C. townhouse, and the best part of it was my aunt's studio, a vast space two stories high with a balcony running around it. I loved it, the easels, smell of fresh oil paint, pencils and pens and sketchbooks, the drawings, everything. I knew that my uncle, Luther Morris Leisenring, my grandmother's brother, was a respected and successful architect and a painter in his own right, but I never knew much about Aunt Mathilde except that I revered her for the simple reason that she was a painter. Only recently did I discover that she was quite well-established and highly regarded. A founder of the Arts Club of Washington who had studied in Paris and New York, she was one of the first female instructors at the Corcoran School of Art and Design. This work is a portrait she did of Gen. John Biddle, Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point, 1916-1917 before serving in World War I and going on to a distinguished career in Washington.