24054

DANIEL HUNTINGTON (American 1816-1906)

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD
DANIEL HUNTINGTON (American 1816-1906)
<B>DANIEL HUNTINGTON (American 1816-1906)</B></I><BR>Lake Mohonk, 1838<BR>Pencil on gray paper heightened by white<BR>6in. x 8in. (sight size)<BR>Signed and dated lower right: D Huntington Oct. 26 1838<BR><BR>Lake Mohonk, located in New York's Shawangunk Mountains has been a tourist and artist destination since the mid-19th century. Daniel Huntington made numerous excursions into the Catskills and the Shawagunks throughout his career. In the true spirit of the Hudson River School, he has captured the appearance of the distinctive topography of the lake. He pays particular attention to the details of the foliage to the right, and renders a serene scene of a rowboat gliding across the still waters. <BR><BR>One of the most versatile artists working in mid-19th century New York, Huntington painted historical and religious scenes, genre scenes, still lifes and landscapes as well as portraits. Few 19th-century artists commanded the respect and admiration given to Huntington. He was the leading portraitist of New York society in the post-Civil War period, and he served as president of the National Academy of Design from 1862 to 1869 and from 1877 to 1891, the longest tenure of any president. He was a vice president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 33 years. In 1867 the frontispiece of Henry Tuckerman's <I>Book of the Artists</B></I> carried his engraved portrait. <BR><BR>Born in New York City, Huntington studied at a preparatory school in New Haven before entering Hamilton College in upstate New York, where he met the painter Charles Loring Elliott. Huntington took lessons from Elliott before returning to New York City in 1835. Once back in New York, he studied with Samuel F. B. Morse and Henry Inman before opening his own studio and began to produce landscapes in the tradition of the Hudson River School. <BR><BR>Huntington made his first trip to Europe in 1839 and was elected a full member of the National Academy of Design upon his return to New York in 1840. He married in 1842 and returned to Italy in that year. <BR><BR>In 1850 he was honored with a retrospective exhibition at the American Art-Union in New York. The artist lived in England from 1851 to 1858, and returned to Europe for one last visit in 1882. He served as president of the prestigious Century Club from 1879 to 1895. He died in New York City in 1906.<BR><BR>Given the quality of his landscapes, it seems odd that Huntington did not paint more of them. He left approximately 1,200 works, most of which are portraits and historical or ideal subjects. The relative rarity of his landscape work is also surprising given the fact that he was a close friend and admirer William Cullen Bryant, the greatest supporter and promoter of American landscape painting. Contemporary critics favorably compared Huntington's landscapes to those of John F. Kensett and Frederic E. Church, and Albert Bierstadt. <Condition: good> <BR><BR><B>Important notice:</B> Heritage usually auctions material at the rate of 200-250 lots per hour. On some occasions eBay Live bid software or the Internet may not be able to keep up with the pace of the auction. We recommend placing a realistic absentee bid now as insurance to avoid disappointment. Occasionally the auctioneer may eliminate or reject an eBay Live bid, and the auctioneer may also reopen a lot after the close of the eBay live bidding (usually because we missed an audience bid), and may reject your bid even if it shows you as the winning bidder. By bidding via eBay Live, you agree that Heritage may award the lot to another bidder at its sole discretion under the circumstances described above or any other reasonable circumstances. Since eBay bids are not shown to us until we open the lot on the floor, we treat those bids just like floor bids. In most cases the floor responds before the eBay bid is presented to us, due to Internet lag time, so for consistency we have made it a policy that floor bids are always considered first over tie eBay live bids. Also please note that all Heritage lots purchased through eBay Live carry a 24.5% Buyer's Premium. Please make sure you read the Terms and Conditions before you bid.