At a glance
- Born
- 1820-05-22
- Died
- 1910-02-25
- Known as
- Artist
- Organizations
- National Academy of Design
Life story
Worthington Whittredge was born in 1820 in a log cabin near Springfield, Ohio, son of a former sea captain. He trapped animals as a boy and had little formal schooling until about seventeen.
He worked as a house painter in Cincinnati from about 1837 and returned in 1843 to paint landscapes. A landscape accepted by the National Academy of Design in 1846 helped him get patrons.
He studied in Europe from 1849 to 1859, mostly at Dusseldorf under Emanuel Leutze, and posed for a figure in Washington Crossing the Delaware. In 1865 he travelled to the Rockies with Sanford Gifford and John Kensett.
He led the National Academy of Design in 1874-1875 and died in New Jersey in 1910.
Timeline
- 1820-05-22: Born (Springfield, OH) source
- 1837: Moved to Cincinnati as a house painter (Cincinnati, OH) source
- 1843: Returned to Cincinnati to paint landscapes (Cincinnati, OH) source
- 1846: Landscape accepted at the National Academy of Design (New York, NY) source
- 1849: Sailed to Europe (London) source
- 1859: Returned to the US, settled in New York (New York, NY) source
- 1865: Trip to the Rocky Mountains (Great Plains) source
- 1874: President of the National Academy of Design (New York, NY) source
- 1880: Moved to Summit (Summit, NJ) source
- 1910-02-25: Died (New Jersey) source
What Worthington is known for
- Hudson River School landscape painter
- President, National Academy of Design 1874-75
- The Trout Pool (1870)
- Crossing the River Platte (1871)
Honors and things named for them
- President, National Academy of Design (1874-1875)
- Crossing the River Platte hangs in the White House Roosevelt Room
Ohio places
Where Worthington Whittredge was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.
- Born: Springfield, Clark County ZIP 45502 · Springfield · Clark County
- Lived: Cincinnati, Hamilton County ZIP 45202 · Cincinnati · Hamilton County
Myths and corrections
- Disputed: Wikipedia describes a farm near the Little Miami River as his birthplace, but its wording about the distance is unclear. A Smithsonian-based source gives Springfield, Ohio.
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.
- Wikipedia: Worthington Whittredge dates, birth near Springfield, Cincinnati from 1837, NAD president