Portrait of Mr. Renton (from Sketchbook)
ca. 1870
Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
5 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. (14 x 22.2 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of S.B. Luyster, 1936
Accession Number
36.124a recto
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum Art, *Portrait of Mr. Rent (from Sketchbook)* Daniel Huntington offers a glimpse into the intimate workings of a 19th-century American studio practice. Created around 1870, during the post-Civil War era when realism and portraiture flourished in the United States, Huntington—a leading figure painter and later president of the National Academy Design—captured this likeness with characteristic precision. The modest scale (5 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches) suggests it was a spontaneous study from one of his personal sketchbooks, possibly preparatory for a large...
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...