Daniel Huntington (1816-1906)
Oil on canvas, 1874
Gift of the Partnership for New York City, Inc.
NYSM 2003.41.76

When Philip Henry Sheridan sat for this portrait, he was at the height of fame born of his Civil War exploits and carried the rank of Lieutenant General in the U.S. Army. A decade earlier he had been the scourge of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, commanding the Union Army of that region. In the post-Civil War decade he proved to be no friend of the Indians of the Rocky Mountain west, yet became an ardent supporter and promoter of Yellowstone National Park, created in 1872 under President Ulysses S. Grant as America’s first national park.

Daniel Huntington’s portrait “from life” of General Sheridan was created at the height of the prolific New York artist’s fame. When he executed this portrait he was between terms as president of the National Academy of Design. For decades his clientele included figures from politics, government and high society.