biography of Daniel WAGNER (1802-1888)

Birth place: Leyden, MA

Profession: Miniature, portrait, landscape & still life painter

Exhibited: NAD, 1839-73; Brooklyn AA, 1868, 1872; Centennial Exh., Phila., 1876; PAFA Ann., 1883: "Deer in the Adirondacks" (listed with both Maria and Daniel as artists)

Comments: Wagner spent most of his boyhood in Norwich (NY). He was injured by an accident in childhood and took up portrait and miniature painting which he practiced successfully for many years in collaboration with his sister, Maria Louisa Wagner (see entry). From the late 1830s through about 1842, the two traveled together throughout upstate New York as itinerant painters. From about 1842 to about 1860 they had a studio in Albany; and from 1862-68 they were in NYC. After 1868 they resided in Norwich. Among Daniel's works were portraits of Erastus Corning, Martin Van Buren, Silas Wright, Millard Fillmore, and Daniel Webster. He also painted landscapes and still lifes.

Sources: G&W; Norwich Semi-Weekly Telegraph, Jan. 25, 1888, obit. (courtesy Anna Wells Rutledge); Albany CD 1843-44, 1857; Cowdrey, NAD; Naylor, NAD; NYCD 1862-68; Antiques (Jan. 1933), 12. More recently, see Gerdts, Art Across America, vol. 1, 185-86 (repro.) and Rubinstein, American Women Artists, 65-66; Falk, PA, vol. 2.