Richard William Hubbard was one of a few painters of his generation with a college degree. A native of Connecticut, he was a member of the Yale University class of 1837 before going to New York, where he studied painting with Samuel F. B. Morse and possibly Daniel Huntington. While he also studied abroad during 1840 and 1841, he seems not to have ever exhibited a painting of a specifically European subject. He did, however, acknowledge a profound life-long admiration for Claude Lorrain.

Hubbard exhibited for over forty years at the National Academy of Design*, where he was elected an Associate in 1851 and an Academician in 1858. He also exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association* on a regular basis f...