A prolific portrait painter and generally accepted designer of the first National Confederate Flag, known as the "Stars and Bars," Nicola Marschall (1829-1917) was probably Alabama's most celebrated portrait artist. Born in St. Wendel, in Rhenish Prussia (now the German state of Saarland), Marschall came from a family of prominent and successful vintners and tobacco merchants. His father founded the Marschall Tobacco Company in St. Wendel, which still stands.

Marschall began studying art and music at an early age, and in 1849 he decided to pursue his talents further by emigrating to the United States after securing lodging with a relative in Mobile, Alabama. By August 1851, Marschall had joined the faculty of the Marion Female Semin...