David Dalhoff Neal

Here at the age of 15, he worked the docks as a wharf clerk with a wood shipping firm dealing in Brazilian and Honduran mahogany.

Mark Hopkins, millionaire Ogden Mills, Judge Hoffman, and Mayor Adolph Sutro, to name a few.

[6] While living in California, Neal became friends with Bret Harte and Charles Christian Nahl, with whom he learned many of his early painting techniques.

In an interview with art critic Wilfrid Meynell, Neal recalls the conversation, which brought him to Munich:[4] A wealthy individual happened upon David as he was painting, and after a moment he simply asked; "When do you intend to go to Europe?"

Now, 24 years old, he became a pupil of the Royal Academy, Munich, under Kaulbach where he concentrated on the art of drawing, and then painting and the art of architectural perspective under famous glass artist Max Emanuel Ainmiller, whose daughter he subsequently married[7] soon after he entered the academy, despite the "... difficulties and objections that took on the realistic guise of romance".

[2] They had a son, Maximilian Dalhoff Neal, on March 26, 1865,[8] named after Marie's father, and who would later become a great German dramatist.

[3] Just a few months later, Neal's mentor and father-in-law Max died on David and Marie's eighth wedding anniversary.

[11] 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.

[5] 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.

"Neal, his wife and sons stayed in Munich, but he traveled extensively to sell and exhibit his works, as he maintained his U.S. citizenship, and divided his time between the two countries with his address of Auen Strasse 74 & later Frauen Strasse 7, in Munich, Bavaria, as well as staying in Albert Bierstadt's house at 1111 Carnegie Hall, New York City.

Once back in the States, Neal quickly got to work, traveling and setting up studios in Washington, Cleveland, New York, and so on, including his second exhibition at the San Francisco Art Academy in 1898.

[5] On June 18, 1899, The New York Times ran a full-page article describing David Neal's works with two paintings printed, Portrait of Mille N. and Nuns at Prayer.

His son Max Neal began his career as an author and playwright, with works such as The Collie and the Cat and Der Hochtourist (co-author).

[11] Six of David Dalhoff Neal's personal letters are currently housed in the Bancroft Library on the University of California, Berkeley campus under the "Adolph Sutro papers".