Daniel Wadsworth

Daniel Wadsworth (1771–1848) of Hartford, Connecticut, was an American amateur artist and architect, arts patron and traveler. He is most remembered as the founder of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in his native city. Early life and education Daniel Wadsworth was descended from some of the first Puritan settlers of the Connecticut colony. His father Jeremiah Wadsworth was one of the wealthiest men in Hartford, and his mother Mehithabel Russell Wadsworth was also from an elite family. The senior Wadsworth was involved in trade, manufacturing, banking, and insurance. Young Daniel was educated partly at home; he was introduced to the great art and architecture of the royal courts of Europe by his father, who traveled there with him (see Grand tour). Marriage and family Wadsworth married Faith Trumbull in 1794. He later became acquainted with her uncle, John Trumbull, one of the period's most celebrated historical painters.