Skip to main content

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Artist
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
Margaret Fuller Channing Loring, 23 May 1844 - 08 Jan 1932
Walter Channing, 13 Apr 1849 - 1921
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 22 Dec 1823 - 9 May 1911
Caroline Sturgis Channing Cabot, 15 Apr 1846 - 26 Jan 1917
Date
c. 1853
Type
Photograph
Medium
Half-plate daguerreotype
Dimensions
Image/Sight: 12.2 × 9 cm (4 13/16 × 3 9/16")
Mat (brass): 14 × 10.8 cm (5 1/2 × 4 1/4")
Case open: 15.3 × 25 × 1.3 cm (6 × 9 13/16 × 1/2")
Case closed: 15.3 × 12.5 × 2.8 cm (6 × 4 15/16 × 1 1/8")
Topic
Interior
Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie\Bowtie
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Muttonchops
Cased object
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Male
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Military and Intelligence\Army\Officer\Colonel
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Social reformer
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Literature\Writer\Magazine article writer
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Literature\Writer\Novelist
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Abolitionist
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist\Suffragist
Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Religion and Spirituality\Clergy\Minister
Margaret Fuller Channing Loring: Female
Walter Channing: Male
Caroline Sturgis Channing Cabot: Female
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mrs. Katie Louchheim
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.84.265
Exhibition Label
Unitarian clergyman Thomas Wentworth Higginson was both an early advocate for women’s rights and a radical abolitionist. He helped to finance John Brown’s failed insurrection at Harpers Ferry and later commanded an African American regiment during the Civil War. Higginson emerged as a prolific author in the postwar years and is best known for his mentorship of Emily Dickinson, whose poetry he aided in publishing after her death. During his sister-in-law’s estrangement (1853–55) from her irresponsible husband (the poet William Ellery Channing II), Higginson sheltered her and her young children—three of whom appear with him in this portrait.
El pastor unitario Thomas Wentworth Higginson fue uno de los primeros defensores de los derechos de la mujer y un abolicionista radical. Ayudó a financiar la insurrección fallida de John Brown en Harpers Ferry y, más tarde, comandó un regimiento de afroamericanos durante la guerra de Secesión. Higginson se convirtió en un autor prolífico en los años de posguerra y es famoso por haber sido mentor de Emily Dickinson, cuya poesía ayudó a publicar tras la muerte de la autora. Cuando su cuñada se distanció de su irresponsable marido (1853–1855), el poeta William Ellery Channing II, Higginson la albergó tanto a ella como a sus hijos pequeños, tres de los cuales aparecen con él en este retrato.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view