Henry Sargent (1770 – 1845)

• Was an American painter and military man.
• Sargent  was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
• He was one of seven children born to Daniel Sargent Sr. and Mary Sargent.
• He was the brother of author Lucius Manlius Sargent, and Daniel Sargent merchant.
• Henry was sent as a young boy to Dummer Academy, South Byfield, and then, the family having moved to Boston.

• He continued his studies under local teachers.

• John Trumbull, who visited Boston in 1790, saw some of his work and found it promising. 
• In 1793, Sargent went to London, where he studied with Benjamin West and had courteous treatment from John Singleton Copley.

• He returned to Boston in 1799, still strongly conscious of "the apathy then existing towards the arts".

• After his return to Boston in 1799, he took a commission in the national army then being raised under the command of Alexander Hamilton.

• He developed a plan for an elevated railway, but his inventions gained him no particular fame.

• His painting was that of a diligent and gifted artist whose talent fell short of genius.

• His portraits were less masterful than those of his fellow townsman, Gilbert Stuart, with whom he was personally intimate. 

• Continuing to paint at intervals down into old age.

• He was elected in 1840 an honorary member of the National Academy of Design and in 1845, president of the newly organized Boston Artists' Association.

• On April 2, 1807, Sargent married Hannah Welles.

• Together, they had two daughters who died in infancy and two sons.

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