TitleDaniel Huntington
Artist
Launt Thompson
(American, 1833 - 1894)
Datec. 1862
MediumPlaster relief
DimensionsOverall: 20 1/4 × 16 1/2 × 2 3/8 in.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, April 15, 1863
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number104-S
Label TextThis portrait of Huntington was probably modeled at about the time he was elected to his first term as president of the Academy (1862). Evidence of a connection between these events--Huntington's election and Thompson's execution of a portrait of him--has not been found, but it seems likely that the timing is not coincidental.Thompson exhibited a portrait of Daniel Huntington at the Academy annual in 1863 (cat. no. 465). At the time, the work was in the collection of the Century Club and was probably a replica of the Academy's piece, if not the same object. The following year, a relief portrait of Huntington by Thompson, also probably a replica of the Academy's piece, was exhibited at the 20th Annual Fair of the Utica Mechanics' Association, Utica, New York.
Huntington is shown here in a profile pose, facing to the right, with a full beard and long hair. The portrait is bust-length and terminates at the neck. The composition and presentation is typical of Thompson's early portrait work as learned by him in the Albany studio of Erastus Dow Palmer.
