John Frederick Kensett
John Frederick Kensett 1816-1872
A supreme act of courage contributed to the death of one of America's leading artists. John Kensett, the renowned engraver and artist spent his latter years at his home at Contentment Island on Long Island Sound near Darien Connecticut. In the winter of 1872 he plunged into the freezing Sound in an attempt to rescue Mary Lydia (Hancock) Colyer, the wife of his friend fellow artist Vincent Colyer. His attempts...