Daniel Wadsworth

No relation to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848) of Hartford, Connecticut, was a traveler, amateur artist and architect, and arts patron. He is most remembered as the founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

View of Monte Video, Seat of Daniel Wadsworth, Esq., oil on panel, 1828, Thomas Cole. Wadsworth Atheneum

His ancestors were some of the first Puritan settlers of the Connecticut colony. His father, Jeremiah, was one of the most wealthy men in Hartford and was involved in trade, manufacturing, banking, and insurance. Young Daniel was introduced to the great art and architecture of the royal courts of Europe by his father. Daniel married Faith Trumbull in 1794 and was thus associated with John Trumbull her uncle, one of the period’s most celebrated historical painters.

In later years, Wadsworth was a leading patron of painter Thomas Cole, considered at the time America’s greatest landscape painter. Wadsworth donated a lot on Main Street in Hartford for the Wadsworth Atheneum and provided many of the art objects initially displayed. He also helped Lydia Sigourney with the publication of her first books.

External links

• Short biographical sketch of Daniel Wadsworth and the Hudson River School.
• The homepage of The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum.