Artist.  As a descendant of two Mayflower passengers, William Brewster and John Alden, and the grandson of two famous Huntingtons, paternal-grandson of Benjamin Huntington, Senior who had been a Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress, and also as a maternal-grandson of Revolutionary War Brigadier-General Jedediah Huntington, he was born into a privileged and highly respected family.  Huntington began his formal study of art in the 1830s, and graduated from Hamilton College in 1836.  In 1839, he went to Italy where he studied and lived in Florence and Rome.  Upon his return to his native New York City, he began to establish his reputation as one of the most preeminent painters of portraits in nineteenth century America.  Most notatably, he was commissioned to paint portraits of President Abraham Lincoln, President Martin Van Buren, journalist and poet William Cullen Bryant, and former Confederate States President Jefferson Davis.  Huntington belonged to the art movement known as The Hudson River School.  Not limited to portraits alone, he often exhibited works depicting historical events and religious themes to great acclaim both in America and in Europe.  He served as president of the National Academy of Design from 1862 to 1870 and from 1877 to 1890, and was also a trustee and vice-president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1870 to 1903. (bio by: wildgoose)  Family links:  Spouse:  Harriet Sophia Richards Huntington (1821 – 1893) Inscription:”Daniel Huntington 1816-1906.”