American painter. Born into a distinguished New England family, he studied at Yale College and at Hamilton College, New York, where he met and was encouraged by the painter Charles Loring Elliott. He was elected an Associate of the National Academy of Design in 1839, an Academician in the following year and twice served as its President (1862-9 and 1877-91). Although based in New York, he exhibited at all the major national art institutions as well as at the Royal Academy, London. In 1847 he was a founder-member of the Century Club, over which he presided in 1879-95. He later helped found the Metropolitan Museum of Art and served as its Vice-President from 1871 until 1903.