John Frederick Kensett

American, 1816–1872

BiographyKensett was born in Cheshire, Connecticut, on 22 March 1816. From about 1828 he trained and worked as an engraver in New Haven, first with his father and later with his uncle. He continued to work as an engraver in New York City, New Haven, and Albany until his departure for an extended period of travel and study in Europe from 1840 to 1847. Kensett spent seven years in England and on the continent, primarily in London and Hampton Court, Paris, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He was in Naples by mid-April 1847, and in May he painted The Temple of Neptune, Paestum(AMAM inv. 04.432). Following his return to the United States in October 1847 Kensett settled in New York City, but continued to travel extensively. In addition to more local trips, he returned to Europe in 1856, 1861, and (possibly) 1868; lived briefly in Washington, D.C. (1860), traveled on the Mississippi River (1868), and to Colorado and the Rockies (1870). After contracting pneumonia in Connecticut in 1872, he died of heart failure at his studio in New York on 14 December 1872.

During his lifetime, Kensett was generally regarded as one of the finest among those second-generation artists of the Hudson River school who built upon Thomas Cole's literal transcriptions of Northeastern scenes and created quiet, intimate, and serene landscapes.

Kensett generously supported artists and artistic organizations, such as the National Academy of Design (elected full member 1849), the U. S. Capitol Art Commission (appointed 1859), and the Sanitary Fair exhibition of 1863-64, which raised funds to support the Union Army's medical services. He served as the founder and president of the charitable Artists' Fund Society from 1865 to 1870, and was active as a founder and trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870. He was a diligent and prolific artist, who produced numerous drawings (including Newport, AMAM inv. 77.4) and over six hundred paintings.