COGSWELL COLLEGE

 William Cogswell – Artist

William F. Cogswell (1819-1903, DJC 3955) was born in Fabius, N ew York, in 1819. He resided in many cities across the East Coast before settling in California. He worked in a color factory in Buffalo before moving to New York City. Although self-taught, he became a professional painter and painted portraits of three Presidents: Lincoln, Grant (right - it hangs in the Senate Wing of the United States Capitol) and McKinley. ln 1849, the year of the Gold Rush, he visited California but soon returned to New York City. Over twenty-five years he worked in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville (Kentucky), St, Louis and Washington, D.C.

The portrait of Ulysses S. Grant depicts its subject in a realistically informal pose, slightly slumped and with his coat unbuttoned. The portrait in military dress is probably not a wholly metaphorical choice, since the achievements of General Grant are quite a different thing from those of President Grant. The warrior theme is emphasized by the smoky background and a wispy red lower foreground that could be fire.

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