Daniel Huntington (October 4, 1816April 19, 1906) was an American artist who belonged to the art movement known as the Hudson River School and later became a prominent portrait painter.

Early life

Huntington was born in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...

on October 4, 1816. He was the son of Benjamin Huntington, Jr. and Faith (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Trumbull) Huntington. His paternal grandfather was Benjamin Huntington, delegate at the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, which established American independence ...

and first U.S. Representative from Connecticut. His maternal grandfather was Jedediah Huntington (1743–1818) of Norwich, Connecticut, who served as a General in the American Revolutionary War. He studied at Yale with Samuel F.B. Morse, and later with Henry Inman. From 1833 to 1835, he transferred to

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

in Clinton, New York, where he met Charles Loring Elliott, who encouraged him to become an artist.

Career

Huntington first exhibited his work at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

in 1836. Subsequently, he painted some landscapes in the tradition of the Hudson River School. Huntington made several trips to Europe, the first in 1839 traveling to England, Rome,

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and Paris with his friend and pupil Henry Peters Gray. On his return to America in 1840, he painted his allegorical painting "Mercy's Dream", which brought him fame and confirmed his interest in inspirational subjects. He also painted portraits and began the illustration of ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is commonly regarded as one of the most significant works of Protestant devotional literature and of wider early moder ...

''. In 1844, he went back to Rome. Returning to New York around 1846, he devoted his time chiefly to portrait-painting, although he painted many genre, religious and historical subjects. From 1851 to 1859, he was in England. He was president of the National Academy of Design from 1862 to 1870, and again in 1877–1890. He was also vice president of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in New York.Looking at Pictures in the Grand Salon: a guide to the artists.

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

, Renwick Gallery.

Personal life

Huntington was married to Harriet Sophia Richards (1821–1893), a daughter of Charles H. Richards and Sarah (née Hayward) Richards. Together, they were the parents of Charles Richards Huntington (1847–1915), a merchant. He was the brother-in-law of fellow painter Cornelius Ver Bryck. Huntington died in New York City on April 19, 1906. He was buried at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

in Brooklyn.

Works

Among his principal works are: *"The Florentine Girl" *"Early Christian Prisoners" *"The Shepherd Boy of the Campagna" *"The Roman Penitents" *"Christiana and Her Children" *"Queen Mary signing the Death-Warrant of Lady Jane Grey" *"Feckenham in the Tower" (1850) *"Chocorua" (1860) *"Republican Court in the Time of Washington" containing sixty-four careful portraits (1861) *"Philosophy and Christian Art" (1868) *"Sowing the Word" (1869) *"St Jerome, Juliet on the Balcony" (1870) *"The Narrows, Lake George" (1871) *"Clement VII. and Charles V. at Bologna" *"Goldsmiths Daughter" (1884) His principal portraits are: *" President Lincoln" in Union League Club, New York *"Chancellor Ferris of New York University * General J.G. Totten (1857)at Berkshire Museum *" Sir Charles Eastlake and the earl of Carlyle," the property of the New York Historical Society *" President Van Buren" in the State Library at Albany *" James Lenox" in the Lenox Library *"

Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...

" (1856-1857) *"

William Cullen Bryant William Cullen Bryant (November 3, 1794 – June 12, 1878) was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the '' New York Evening Post''. Born in Massachusetts, he started his career as a lawyer but showed an interest in poe ...

" (1866) *" Julia Livingston Delafield" (1873) *"

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

" (1874) *" John Adams Dix" (1880) *" John Sherman" (1881) *"

Alexander Ramsey Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 April 22, 1903) was an American politician, who became the first Minnesota Territorial Governor and later became a U.S. Senator. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 18 ...

" (1881) *" Chester A. Arthur" (1885) ;Gallery File:Huntington .jpg, Portrait of David Olifant Vail (1834-1865), Private collection File:Brooklyn Museum - The Republican Court (Lady Washington's Reception Day) - Daniel Huntington - overall.jpg, ''The Republican Court'' (Lady Washington's Reception Day),

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, 1861 File:Daniel Huntington Philosophy and Christian Art.jpg, An engraving after Huntington's ''Philosophy and Christian Art'', 1868 File:Seated Male Nude (Daniel Huntington).jpg, Seated Male Nude, 1838 File:Peter Buell Porter.jpg, ''Peter Buell Porter (1773-1844), US politician, general of the War of 1812 and Secretary of War.,1873''

References

External links

*
A collection of Huntington's work
as held in the

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facil ...

Historic New England
Huntington's portrait of Mary Wheelwright Codman, 1845

at the

New-York Historical Society The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...

Bedford Fine Art Gallery: Daniel Huntington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntington, Daniel 1816 births 1906 deaths Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists Yale University alumni Painters from New York City