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Asher Brown Durand

1796-1886 America-Romanticism

Brief Biography-Asher Brown Durand was born in New Jersey in 1796. His father was a horologist and silversmith who trained him as an engraver. He did a five-year apprenticeship in the shop of Peter Maverick, with whom he subsequently went into business. His work for the artist John Trumbull, the engraving of Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence, earned him a high reputation. In 1825, he became a banknote engraver with his brother Cyrus and received commissions for portraits and landscapes. Amongst his works were portraits of US Presidents.
It was in 1831 that he became devoted to Landscape painting with the encouragement of George Cole. They went on sketching and painting journeys to the Catskill Mountains and other mountainous locations in America. Then, in 1840, he travelled to Europe with John Kensett, John Casilear, and Thomas Rossiter. There he was influenced by the works of John Constable and Claude Lorrain.
He went on to help establish the New York Drawing Association, the New York Sketch Club, and the Century Association. In 1845, he became president of the National Academy of Design in New York City. He was the most prominent painter of the Hudson School. He spent his last years painting in New York City and died in New Jersey in 1860.

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A Stream
in the Wood