Alphonso Taft

ALPHONSO TAFT was born in Townshend, Vermont, on 5 November 1810; attended local schools and taught school to obtain funds to study at Amherst Academy; graduated from Yale College, 1833; taught school at Ellington, Connecticut; held a tutorship at Yale while studying law; was admitted to the Connecticut bar, 1838; moved to Cincinnati and commenced the practice of law, circa 1840; married Fanny Phelps, 1841, and, after her death, Louisa Torrey, 1853; was appointed to the superior court of Cincinnati to fill a vacancy, then elected to the post for two terms, 1865–1872; resumed the practice of law, 1872–1876; served as Secretary of War, 8 March–22 May 1876; was appointed attorney general of the United States, 1876–1877; was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Ohio, 1875 and 1879; served as minister to Austria-Hungary, 1882–1884; served as minister to Russia, 1885–1886; died in San Diego, California, on 21 May 1891.


The Artist

Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) had completed four of his seven decades as a working artist and had secured his reputation as a portrait, historical, and landscape painter when Secretary Alphonso Taft sat for him during the nation’s centennial year. The Army increased the fee for secretarial portraits from $300 to $500, effective with Huntington’s work on Taft, an increase fully justified in light of the additional requirements of painting from life—requirements involving appointments, sittings, and approvals.

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Portrait, Alphonso Taft

ALPHONSO TAFT
Grant Administration
By Daniel Huntington
Oil on canvas, 29½" x 24½", 1876

 


page created 2 March 2001


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