Picturing Henry


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1825

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1825
Item 11195   info
Maine Historical Society

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, born and raised in Portland, became America's best-known poet in the 19th century.

Images of the poet and scholar are numerous and range from this silhouette, made when Longfellow was 18 and about to graduate from Bowdoin College, to a portrait painted by his son within a year of his death in 1882.

In the era before photography, Bowdoin College captured images of its graduating class with silhouettes.

Joining Longfellow in the "famous" Class of 1825 were Nathaniel Hawthorne and Longfellow's older brother, Stephen, and future brother-in-law George Washington Pierce.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1829

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1829
Item 4119   info
Maine Historical Society

After Longfellow graduated from Bowdoin, he went to Europe to study modern languages so that he could take up a teaching position at his alma mater.

In 1829, at age 22, he became the first professor of modern languages and comparative literature at the school.

Thomas Badger (1792-1868) of Boston, who learned painting in part by copying works in the Bowdoin collection, rendered the new professor in his academic robes.

The image, like many others in this exhibit, was copied and turned into an engraving that could be reprinted many times.

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1835

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1835
Item 15906   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

While at Bowdoin, Longfellow taught French, Spanish and Italian and published a number of foreign language textbooks.

In 1834, he was offered a professorship in modern languages at Harvard College.

Before beginning his new job, he and his wife, Mary Potter Longfellow, went on a European trip so he could further improve his language skills.

While in Stockholm, he sat for popular artist Maria Rohl. Longfellow was 28 years old.

A few weeks after the portrait was completed, Mary Longfellow suffered a miscarriage and died shortly thereafter.

Despite being devastated by his loss, Longfellow continued his tour.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Franquinet, 1839

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Franquinet, 1839
Item 15884   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

In 1839, the year Longfellow sat for Wilhelm Franquinet (1785-1854), he published Hyperion, an autobiographical novel based on his rejection by Fanny Appleton of Boston, whom he wished to marry.

He also published Voices in the Night, a collection of poems, the same year.

He continued to pursue the hand of Fanny Appleton, whom he had met while on his European tour.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1842

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1842
Item 13294   info
Maine Historical Society

Franquinet drew several versions of his portrait of Longfellow.

This lithograph, which is based on Franquinet's earlier portrait, is dated 1842 and appeared in Graham's Magazine, which featured the works of important contemporary writers and poets.

In the 1840s, Longfellow published many more works, including Poems on Slavery (1842), the anthology The Poets and Poetry of Europe (1845), Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie (1847) and the novel Kavanagh (1849).

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1840

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1840
Item 15478   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Cephus Giovanni Thompson (1809-1888) captured a contemplative Longfellow in an 1840 oil painting.

Longfellow's fame was just beginning at the time. He was the Smith Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard and still pursuing Fanny Appleton.

This image also was widely distributed in the form of an engraving by Stephen Alonzo Schoff (1818-1904).

H.W. Longfellow, Cambridge, 1841

H.W. Longfellow, Cambridge, 1841
Item 17657   info
Maine Historical Society

French silhouette artist M. Auguste Edouart (1789–1861) worked in the U.S. from 1839-1849 and cut silhouettes of notable people in government, the arts and other fields.

Edouart made this silhouette of a dapper Longfellow in 1841.

Longfellow, who reputedly preferred European fashions, was conscious of his appearance. He also was savvy about marketing his works. The many images of him could aid in this effort.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1843

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1843
Item 4117   info
Maine Historical Society

Charles Octavius Cole, a popular painter from Portland, rendered this oil painting of Longfellow in 1843, the year he married Fanny Appleton. His fame as a poet was increasing.

International audiences were enthusiastic about his poetry collections Voices in the Night(1839) and Ballads and Poems (1841).

Sketch of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1844

Sketch of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1844
Item 15913   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Seth Wells Chaney made this portrait of Longfellow in 1843, the same year as Cole's painting.

Chaney probably drew the image as a template to be used for a print.

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Eastman Johnson, 1846

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Eastman Johnson, 1846
Item 15896   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Eastman Johnson (1824-1906), a painter and printmaker who was born in Lovell, began working in Washington, D.C. in 1845, and made portraits of a number of notable Americans.

Longfellow commissioned him to do portraits of family members and friends, including Charles Sumner, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Cornelius C. Felton, his younger sisters, Anne Longfellow Pierce and Mary Longfellow Greenleaf, and his sons Charles and Ernest Longfellow.



Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Francis Alexander, 1852

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Francis Alexander, 1852
Item 16395   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Connecticut-born artist Francis Alexander, who studied with Gilbert Stuart, painted this portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1852.

The portrait hangs in Longfellow's study at the Craigie House, his long-time home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1854

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1854
Item 15565   info
Bowdoin College Library

A John A. J. Wilcox engraving of a drawing by Samuel Lawrence (1817-1884).

London publisher George Routledge sent Samuel Laurence to America make a drawing for an engraving of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Wilcox, of Boston, was noted for his steel engravings of portraits.

This image of the poet was a favorite of the Longfellow family

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1859

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1859
Item 16468   info
Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Thomas Buchanan Read (1822-1872) painted this oil portrait of Longfellow in 1859.

By then, Longfellow had published several more popular works, The Song of Hiawatha (1855) and The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858).

Longfellow urged Read to become a writer as well as a painter and the artist began writing poetry. Read, a native of Pennsylvania, spent much of his adult life living in Rome and Florence.

Brady's Longfellow, 1859

Brady's Longfellow, 1859
Item 20171   info
Maine Historical Society

Noted Civil War photographer Matthew Brady took a series of photos of Longfellow in 1859.

This print of one of those images shows the poet in a standing pose.

The image was used as the frontispiece in Vol. III of the Craigie Edition of The Complete Writings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an eleven-volume work published in 1879 by Houghton, Mifflin and Co.

D'Avignon's Longfellow, 1859

D'Avignon's Longfellow, 1859
Item 22440   info
Maine Historical Society

Francis D'Avignon (1813-1870) was the artist for this lithograph of Longfellow, most likely drawn from a daguerreotype made by John Whipple of Whipple and Black studio in Boston.

The lithography was done by J.H. Bufford, an important lithographer who worked in Boston from 1841-1871.

Longfellow engraving, ca. 1863

Longfellow engraving, ca. 1863
Item 22442   info
Maine Historical Society

This engraving is a view of Longfellow painted by Alonso Chappel (1820-1887) about 1858.

Under the signature is printed, "Likeness from the latest Photograph from life."

Johnson Fry & Co. of New York did the engraving and published it in 1863, about the time Longfellow retired from teaching. He had been talking about leaving Harvard since shortly after his arrival there in 1839.

H.W. Longfellow, Cambridge, 1860

H.W. Longfellow, Cambridge, 1860
Item 22499   info
Maine Historical Society

Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), a native of Portland, lived much of his adult life in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This photomechanical print is based on a photograph by John Whipple (1822-1891) of Whipple and Black studios, a noted Boston photographer who was a pioneer in daguerreotypes as well as later processes.

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1862

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1862
Item 16469   info
Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Publisher James T. Fields engaged George Peter Alexander Healy (1813-1894) to paint a portrait of Longfellow.

Most editions of Longfellow's works contain images of him.

This portrait was painted about nine months after Longfellow's wife, Fanny, died, and hung in the publisher's office for a number of years. It was reportedly one of Longfellow's favorites.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, London, ca. 1868

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, London, ca. 1868
Item 4114   info
Maine Historical Society

An albumen photograph of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, probably taken in 1868 when he was in London and had an audience with Queen Victoria.

The photo was taken by John Jabez Edwin Mayall (1810-1901) of the London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company.

Mayall made his name as a daguerreotypist in Philadelphia, but was born in England and returned there in 1846.

In 1867, Longfellow published a translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, a work that had consumed him after his wife's death.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1870

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1870
Item 4126   info
Maine Historical Society

Longfellow gave this picture, with an original signature to William Goold of Windham.

The image was used in a book published shortly after Longfellow's death, Tributes to Longfellow and Emerson, by the Massachusetts Historical Society.


Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1870

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1870
Item 4140   info
Maine Historical Society

Even though Longfellow largely stopped writing poetry after his wife's death in 1861, his popularity continued to grow.

Napoleon Sarony of New York took this photographic portrait of Longfellow that was reproduced on carte de visites such as this one.

Sarony, who began as a lithographer, made his name photographing celebrities, especially actors and actresses.

The images were publicity for the persons photographed, including Longfellow.

Painting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1876

Painting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1876
Item 15894   info
NPS, Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

Longfellow's son, Ernest W. Longfellow, was an artist who painted several portraits of his father.

The family thought that this one, done in 1876, it the best portrait of Longfellow ever taken, but Ernest thought another one better: the one he painted for Bowdoin College (now hanging in the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library at the College) after studying with Couture.

Henry W. Longfellow, Portland, 1878

Henry W. Longfellow, Portland, 1878
Item 22500   info
Maine Historical Society

One indication of Longfellow's fame is that his 70th birthday, in 1877, was a national celebration.

In 1878, Longfellow visited his hometown and sat for Portland photographer Joseph H. Lamson (1840-1901).

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Portland, 1878

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Portland, 1878
Item 22498   info
Maine Historical Society

This is another view of Longfellow taken when he sat for Portland photographer Joseph H. Lamson in 1878.

Longfellow was 71 years old. He died in 1882 at age 75.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1903

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1903
Item 4118   info
Maine Historical Society

Joseph Kahill (1882-1957) of Maine painted this portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) after the poet's death.

It appears to be based on the Lamson photos taken in Portland in 1878.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1876

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ca. 1876
Item 22441   info
Maine Historical Society

Photographer Frederick F. Gutekunst (1831-1917) took this phototype portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow within a few years of the poet's death March 24, 1882.

A lithograph that may have been made from this photo appears as the frontispiece of Vol. XI, the final volume of the Craigie Edition of The Complete Writings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1879.

The book dates the lithograph as 1879.

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1881

Portrait of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1881
Item 16467   info
Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Longfellow's son Ernest painted this portrait of his father.

Bowdoin College, where Longfellow studied and taught, commissioned the painting.

This is one of the last portraits done of Longfellow for which he sat in person. Ernest painted it in 1881.

This slideshow contains 27 items