: John Frederick Kensett (Father: Thomas Kensett, an immigrant British engraver; Mother: Elizabeth Daggett) (1816–1872) was a preeminent American landscape painter and a central figure of the second generation of the Hudson River School. He is best known for his pioneering role in developing Luminism, a style characterized by the effects of light on tranquil landscapes and seascapes, featuring invisible brushstrokes and calm, atmospheric stillness.
Born in Connecticut, Kensett initially trained as an engraver in the shop of his father and his uncle, Alfred Daggett. He worked as an engraver in New Haven and New York City until 1840, when he traveled to Europe alongside fellow artists Asher B. Durand and John William Casilear to study painting. Kensett spent seven years abroad, studying and painting in England, France, Switzerland, and Italy, gradually transitioning from meticulous engraving to landscape painting.
Upon returning to New York in 1847, Kensett established his studio and quickly achieved immense critical and commercial success. Unlike the dramatic, allegorical landscapes of earlier Hudson River School painters like Thomas Cole, Kensett’s work celebrated the quiet poetry of nature. He favored clear, radiant light and serene compositions, often painting the coastal areas of New England, upstate New York, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
By the 1860s, Kensett was recognized as one of America’s most successful and wealthy artists. He was highly respected in the New York art community and used his influence to advocate for the arts, becoming one of the founding trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870.
Kensett’s life ended tragically; he contracted pneumonia and died of heart failure in 1872 after diving into the Long Island Sound in an attempt to rescue the drowning wife of a friend. Following his death, his brother Thomas donated Kensett’s final works (known as “The Last Summer’s Work”) to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, securing his legacy as a master of American light.
Active in others filds : Engraving, Arts Administration (Founding Trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
