Dr. John Edwards Holbrook
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 72 x 58.9 cm (28 3/8 x 23 3/16 in.) framed: 94.6 x 81.9 x 7 cm (37 1/4 x 32 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1947.17.57
Art Historical Context
**Dr. John Edwards Holbrook** (1857) by Daniel Huntington is a striking oil-on-canvas portrait that captures the dignity of one of America's pioneering naturalists. Measuring 72 x 58.9 cm, this intimate yet formal depiction honors Dr. John Edwards Holbrook (1794–1871), a South Carolina physician and herpetologist renowned for his multi-volume *North American Herpetology*, the first comprehensive study of reptiles and amphibians in the United States. Painted when Holbrook was in his early sixties, the work reflects the era's reverence for intellectual achievement amid the burgeoning scientific ...
About the Artist
Daniel Huntington · 1816–1906
Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) was born into a prominent New York family on October 4, 1816, descending from distinguished New England lineage. His early education began at age fourteen at Smith's Academy in New Haven, followed by Yale College, where he studied with Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor, artist, and president of the National Academy of Design, in 1835. After a disciplinary incident invo...