thumb|right|David Dalhoff Neal, age 49, [[engraving by fellow German artist Gustav Kruell, 1887]]

David Dalhoff Neal (October 20, 1838May 2, 1915), was an American artist.

Early years

David Dalhoff Neal was born to father Stephen Bryant Neal and mother Mary (Dalhoff) Neal, on Middlesex Street, in Lowell, Massachusetts. His grandparents were Stephen Neal, and David Dalhoff and Sally (Bean) Dalhoff of Canterbury, New Hampshire, Dolhoffs that emigrated from Russia in 1763, for whom he was named. His mother's family, the Beans, migrated from the Netherlands in the early 1830s. His aunt Elizabeth Dolhoff was very artistic, and his uncle Jesse Dolhoff was a great singer.

He attended Lowell grammar schools, and high school at Lawrence, Massachusetts. Deciding to devote himself to the study of art, he then attended art classes at the recently opened Andover Academy in Andover, New Hampshire. When Neal was 14, his father died and his fortunes were "impaired", so he set sail for New Orleans. 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. After a year, he earned enough money to make his way to San Francisco, via the Isthmus of Panama.

San Francisco (1857–1861)

In 1857, at the age of 19, Neal settled in San Francisco. He was hired as a draughtsman on wood by a friendly wood-engraver, who took an interest in him, and taught him the art. Soon after, he became the city's best ink drawer upon blocks used by engravers. In fact, his sketching ability was so good that he was hired, from time to time, by the police for likenesses of criminals for the Rogue's Gallery. The first exhibit of his work was at the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute in 1857, and his second was at the 1859 California State Fair. After two years he earned enough money to return to New England for a short while to take art classes at the Andover Academy, but returned to San Francisco when his money ran out. Once back, Neal quickly established himself as one of the city's best portrait artists. He painted portraits of Rev. Mark Hopkins, millionaire Ogden Mills, Judge Hoffman, and Mayor Adolph Sutro, to name a few. 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: soon after he entered the academy, despite the "... difficulties and objections that took on the realistic guise of romance". named after Marie's father, and who would later become a great German dramatist. Under the direction of his father-in-law, David first travelled to Italy, where he painted the interior of St Mark's Basilica, Venice, and then to England, where he painted the interior of Westminster Abbey. After all, it was his father-in-law that had done a lot of the glass work in the abbey.

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 at the Royal Academy in London where it was purchased by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Benjamin S. Phillips. 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 was a member of the National Academy of Design in New York, as well as the Boston Art Club, 1886, and the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. In the publication, Modern Art and Artists, in 1888, art critic Wilfrid Meynell comments on Neal's works. Neal continued to paint portraits when in the States, including the daughters of Ogden Mills, Beatrice Mills, and Gladys Mills Phipps.</blockquote>

Just as World War I was beginning, Neal and his family were trapped on the German side. He died on May 2, 1915, at the age of 76, as the Allies' blockade choked the life out of the city of Munich. All in all, Neal painted some seventy portraits.

  • On the Grand Canal, Venice, 1869
  • After the Hunt 1870 (Interior- hunting dog with kills) displayed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • The Burgomaster 1873
  • Nuns at Prayer, 1884, displayed at the Royal Gallery of Stuttgart
  • Portrait of a Gentleman, 1886
  • Portrait of Severn Teackle Wallis, 1887 (displayed in Courtroom 400, Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse, Baltimore, MD).
  • Portrait of Otto Sutro, 1889
  • In the Crypt Princeton Collection
  • Junge Frau mit Rosenbl, 1912 (female portrait)
  • A token of Love, 1912 (female portrait)
  • Portraits of the three New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence (known last works) commissioned by the Daughters of the American Revolution.