DURAND, ASHER BROWN (1796-1886), American painter and engraver, was born at South Orange (N.J.), on Aug. 21, 1796. He worked with his father, a watchmaker; was ap prenticed, in 1812, to an engraver named Peter Maverick; and his first work, the head of an old beggar after Waldo, attracted the attention of the artist Trumbull. Durand established his repu tation by his engraving of Trumbull's "Declaration of Independ ence." After 1835, however, he devoted himself chiefly to por trait painting. He painted several of the presidents of the United States and many other men of political and social prominence.
In 1840 he visited Europe, where he studied the work of the old masters; after his return he devoted himself almost entirely to landscape. He died at South Orange on Sept. 17, 1886. He was one of the founders of the National Academy of Design in 1826, and was its president in 1845-61. Durand may be called the father of the Hudson River school. Although there was something hard and unsympathetic about his landscapes and un necessary details and trivialities were over-prominent, he was a well-trained craftsman, and his work is marked by sincerity.