After having begun his artistic career as a lithographer in Königsberg, August Wilhelm Leu studied landscape art from 1840 to 1844 in Düsseldorf under Johann Wilhelm Schirmer’s (1807-1863) supervision. In 1843 and 1847 he traveled to Norway and also visited Swizterland, South Tyrol, Bavaria and Italy. He lived briefly in Brussels for then returning to Düsseldorf where he was part of the famous “Düsseldorfer Malerschule”.

In 1882 he settled in Berlin where he became professor at the Academy of Fine Arts; he was awarded the big gold medal of the Academy’s exhibitions. Furthermore, he was member of the Academies of Fine Arts of both Wien and Amsterdam. His paintings can be found in numerous museums, such as the ones of Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Cincinnati, Danzig, Hanover, Kaliningrad, Oslo, Philadelphia, Tubinga and Wien.