Worthington whittredge autobiography range

At the age of 85, Thomas Worthington Whittredge penned his autobiography, immortalizing his humorous anecdotes and insightful observations regarding the world of fine art. Though raised in a log cabin near Springfield, Ohio, this farmer’s son came to participate in an extraordinary number of cultural moments of American history. His stories include an enjoyable period spent in Dusseldorf during the 1850s when he posed in military garb as George Washington for American painter Emanuel Leutze’s famous work Washington Crossing the Delaware; a prolonged stay with the Beecher family as Harriet Beecher Stowe was writing the classic Uncle Tom’s Cabin; and even a brief friendship with the legendary scout Kit Carson. His ninety-year life reads as an epic adventure, but it is not surprising that the boy who grew up playing and fishing in the Ohio forests would be so greatly impacted by nature’s wonders. 

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Whittredge had little formal early schooling,

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Worthington Whittredge

Born Thomas Worthington Whittredge, 22 May 1820, near Springfield, Ohio. 1837, moved to Cincinnati to learn house and sign painting from his brother-in-law. Began studying art; ground colors and prepared canvases for Chester Harding. 1838, painted portraits. 1839, exhibited three landscapes, inaugural exhibition, Cincinnati Academy of Fine Arts. 1840, trained as daguerreotypist. Moved to Indianapolis, Ind.; established daguerreotype business, which failed. Befriended by Henry Ward Beecher; painted portraits of Beecher family.

1841, worked in Cincinnati as landscape painter; exhibited at Cincinnati Academy. 1843, brief partnership with B.W. Jenks, itinerant portraitist; went to Charlestown, W.Va., to seek commissions. 1844, Cincinnati. 1846, exhibited, National Academy of Design, New York; praised by Asher B. Durand. 1847, exhibited, American Art-Union, New York. Sold paintings to Western Art-Union, Cincinnati.

1849, went to London, Belgium, Germany, Paris. 1849–56, settled in Düsseldorf; met Emanuel Leutze. 1856, left Düsseldorf on sketchi

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Thomas Worthington Whittredge Summit Resident And a Legacy in the Hudson River School of Painting

Whittredge moved to Summit with his family (wife and four daughters) in 1880 and built an impressive Victorian home he called "Hillcrest", then located at 166 Summit Avenue where the apartments now stand. He described the Summit area as having "wide stretches of forest land bordering on rich meadow lands along the Passaic; and from the hills glimpses of the great city could be obtained."

An array of artistic talent and influence on American culture could Thc be seen gathering many times at the Summit home of Whittredge. Among those painters who visited were Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church, Joseph Cropsey George Illness, John Kensett, and Alexander Wyant.

Whittredge served as President of the National Academy of Design in New York from 1875 - 1877. His paintings are in the American Wing at the Metropoli tan Museum of Art in New York and in the Washington National Gallery.

His lifework has been described by one critic in the following way: "Over a period of nearly seven decad