1. 3. 9. 6. 6. 2

DANIEL HUNTINGTON

DANIEL HUNTINGTON, born October 14, 1816, in New York City, entered Yale University at the age of 16, but transferred to Hamilton College shortly after and graduated at Hamilton College. There he met a portrait painter, Charles Loring Elliottart, who encouraged him to study the arts. Huntington took this advice and studied in 1835 with Samuel F. B. Morse and Henry Inman, a founder of the National Academy of Design, and became an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1839, and an Academician in 1840. As a portrait painter he stood at the head of his profession, having a continental reputation. He painted portraits of Abraham Lincoln, Martin Van Buren, Albert Gallatin, Generals Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, Admiral Dupont, Chancellor Ferris, of New York University, Sir Charles Eastlake, the Earl of Carlisle, James Lenox, William Culleo Bryant, John Sherman, and Bishop A. C. Coxe. The following criticism, found in the Whig Review, for August, 1846, exhibits his position among our artist at that time.

Huntington, to whom we are inclined to give the highest place among our artists of the highest school, sent five pictures, exclusive of three portraits, any one of which would have asserted his pre-eminence in this department of his art. Of these, our favorite is the Sacred Lesson, which, although not so full of spirituality, and perhaps not so elevated in tone as his Italy, seems to us a more finished work. The subject, a beautiful girl listening to the story of the crucifixion from an aged man, gave opportunity for all the harmony of contrast, and the embodiment of that high physical and intellectual beauty, of which Huntington seems to have such an admirable conception. His female heads are remarkable for their graceful contour, their high foreheads, but broad, low and classical brows, and for their perfectly feminine expression, which, as well as their freedom from that exaggeration of points of beauty, such as large eyes and small mouths, into which modern painters are apt to fall, gives them a truthful air which some of hotbed taste mistake for materiality. In fact, his women do not look like sylphs, angels, nor goddesses, but like women, which is the grand reason that they are so beautiful. His heads of old men have equal excellence, and are full of character and vigorous drawing. He seems conscious of his abilities in this way, for three of his pictures for this year present the contrast of feminine youth with masculine age. Huntington's pictures bear the stamp of high cultivation and of great genius. Not only are his conceptions beautiful, just, and of a high poetic order, and his designs clear, but his work is almost always well done; the tone of his pictures is such that the eye rests upon them with delight and contentment; the heart sympathizes with the sentiment expressed, and the judgment approves almost without a doubt.

His effects are always simple, direct, and forcible, for he never descends into the pettiness of his art. His coloring is singularly beautiful, and reminds us of that of Lueca Giordano, fa presto Lucca as he was called, but among American artists it is peculiarly his own. Who has given us such unobtrusive reds and yellows, and such rich, quiet greens? Nobody has ever tried to do it; the very conception of such colors seems to have been left to him, for such was the character of his coloring before he had studied in Italy. They alone are enough to make a reputation, and yet they are but secondary to, though admirably in keeping with, his high poetic conception, his admirable drawing, and exquisite flesh tints. Indeed, so beautiful are these colors in themselves, and so harmonious are the broad masses in which they are introduced, that the eye, after wandering around upon the walls turns unwittingly upon his pictures to drink in their cool, refreshing tone.

He often went abroad during his long career, traveling and sketching in Italy, England, and Spain. He seems to have particularly enjoyed painting Chocorua while visiting the White Mountains, making sketches there as early as 1854. A view he executed in 1860 was engraved by John Filmore. A friend of Champney and the convivial group who congregated every summer in North Conway to paint and "talk shop," Huntington was often in the White Mountains and produced many sketches of the area. He shared a studio with many associates at Jackson, New Hampshire maintained by Samuel Colman. Among those associates were George Loring Brown, Frank Henry Shapleigh, Asher Brown Durand, and Aaron Draper Shattuck.

The estimate in which Mr. Huntington was held by the members of his own profession, is evinced by his election to the presidency of the National Academy of Design, as their third president, the first two having been Prof. Morse, and A. B. Durand. He held this office from 1862 to 1869, and from 1877 to 1891. He was a member of the National Academy of Design from 1839 to his death in 1906. He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1842 to 1868. He joined the Century Association in 1847 and was its president from 1879 to 1895. He was also vice-president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 33 years.

Daniel married, at St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, June 16, 1842, Harriet Sophia Richards. He died April 18, 1906. His wife died November 8, 1893.

1. CHARLES RICHARDS, born January 5, 1847

	Dr. James Hall, 1857 oil on canvas, .765 x .633 m (30 1/8 x 24 15/16 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1947.17.56
	Dr. John Edwards Holbrook, 1857 oil on canvas, .720 x .589 m (28 3/8 x 23 3/16 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1947.17.57
	Henry Theodore Tuckerman, 1866 oil on canvas, .682 x .562 m (26 7/8 x 22 1/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1947.17.7
	Italy, 1843 oil on canvas 38 5/8 x 29 1/8 in. (98.1 x 74.0 cm.) National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C. Museum purchase 1973.41
	Asher Brown Durand, 1857 Oil on canvas, 56 x 44 inches Location (June, 1998) The Century Association
	William Tecumseh Sherman, 1875 oil on canvas, 29x24" Pentagon in the Army Secretarial Portrait Gallery
	A Southern Portrait 22" x 28"
	Robert C. Winthrop
	A reception given by Martha Washington, engraving after Daniel Huntington, nineteenth century. Anonymous gift. Museum of the City of New York, 26.246. Martha Washington is pictured standing on the dias to the left.

Sketch created from data found in 1915 Genealogical Memoir, published by the Huntington Family Association. Graphic images, page layout, and information on paintings contributed by Charles A. Huntington, Jr. (1.3.10.2.3.6.3.11.1.1.1)
Daniel is H.N. 1.3.9.6.6.2

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Last updated 23 May 2000 by Sara (Huntington) Abbott
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