Rufus Wright

Rufus Wright studied at the National Academy of Design and under George Augustus Baker, Jr. in New York City. He worked as a portrait, genre and still life painter, as well as a lithographer. Evidently he made a trip west during the 1850s for Sarony, Major & Knapp, where he drew this view of Davenport, among his well-known works. He is also noted for his portraits of 19th-century political figures. By 1860, he was living in New York City, where he spent most of his career, and taught at the Brooklyn Academy of Design from 1866 to 1872. After 1875, he concentrated on genre paintings. His works are in several museum collections, including the Yale University Art Gallery and New York Historical Society.