John Frederick Kensett Biography

John F. Kensett studied engraving with his father, Thomas (1786-1829), and his uncle, Alfred Daggett (1799-1872), in New Haven. Kensett went to work in New York as a bank note engraver in 1838. In 1840 he went to Europe with Asher B. Durand and John W. Casilear. In Europe Kensett studied painting and met his lifelong friend, Benjamin Champney. Kensett and Champney traveled throughout Europe sketching and painting together. Kensett returned to America in 1847 and in 1850 Kensett and Champney went to Fryeburg, Maine, and on to Conway. At that time Kensett made the sketches of his famous painting Mt. Washington from Sunset Hill (later engraved by the American Art Union). Kensett made his home in New York City, but he spent much of his life traveling to the mountains in the West, upstate New York, and New England.