Daniel Huntington (October 4, 1816April 19, 1906) was an American artist who belonged to the art movement known as the

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

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 or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on October 4, 1816. He was the son of

Benjamin Huntington, Jr. Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

and Faith (

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

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

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...

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 liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York. It was founded as Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and was chartered as Hamilton College in 1812 in honor of inaugural trustee Alexander Hamilton, following ...

in Clinton, New York, where he met

Charles Loring Elliott Charles Loring Elliott (1812–1868) was an American painter known for his portraits. He was active in central New York for 10 years as a young man, then in 1845 moved to New York City to pursue his career. He was elected to the National Academy ...

, 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, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

in 1836. Subsequently, he painted some landscapes in the tradition of the

. Huntington made several trips to Europe, the first in 1839 traveling to England, Rome,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

and Paris with his friend and pupil

Henry Peters Gray Henry Peters Gray (June 23, 1819 - November 12, 1897) was an American portrait and genre painter. Early life Born in New York City he was a pupil of Daniel Huntington in New York, and subsequently studied in Rome and Florence. Career Elect ...

. 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 regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of t ...

''. 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 of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

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

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and 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 ...

, Renwick Gallery. Self-portrait_by_Daniel_Huntington,_1891

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. 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/ Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park, and lies several blo ...

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 Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

" in Union League Club, New York *"Chancellor Ferris of New York University * General J.G. Totten (1857)at Berkshire Museum *"

Sir Charles Eastlake Sir Charles Lock Eastlake (17 November 1793 – 24 December 1865) was a British painter, gallery director, collector and writer of the 19th century. After a period as keeper, he was the first director of the National Gallery. Life Eastlak ...

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 rec ...

" (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 poetry ...

" (1866) *"

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as ...

" (1874) *"

John Adams Dix John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was an American politician and military officer who was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and Union major general during the Civil War. He was notable for arresting the pro-Souther ...

" (1880) *"

John Sherman John Sherman (May 10, 1823October 22, 1900) was an American politician from Ohio throughout the Civil War and into the late nineteenth century. A member of the Republican Party, he served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. He also served as ...

" (1881) *"

Alexander Ramsey Alexander Ramsey (September 8, 1815 April 22, 1903) was an American politician. He served as a Whig and Republican over a variety of offices between the 1840s and the 1880s. He was the first Minnesota Territorial Governor. Early years and fa ...

" (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 located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

, 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 housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian In ...

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

at the

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...

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