Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ritter, Henry
RITTER, HENRY (1816–1853), artist, was born at Montreal, Canada, in 1816, and was destined to a commercial career, but persuaded his father to send him to Europe to study art. He remained for some time at Hamburg studying under Grözer, and ultimately settled at Düsseldorf, where he studied under Jordan and took two prizes at the academy. His health began to fail in 1847, when he was engaged on his largest painting. He died at Düsseldorf on 21 Dec. 1853.
Ritter chiefly affected sea-pieces. His best works were: ‘Smugglers struggling with English Soldiers,’ 1839; ‘Le Fanfaron,’ 1842; ‘Marriage Proposal in Normandy,’ 1842; ‘Young Pilot Drowned,’ 1844 (purchased by the Art Society of Prussia); and ‘The Poachers,’ 1847.
[Appleton's Cyclop. of Amer. Biogr.; Bryan's Dict. of Painters, 1889.]