Daniel Sargent Curtis
Daniel Sargent Curtis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1825 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | 1908 |
| Occupation(s) | Attorney, financier |
| Known for | Trustee of the Boston Public Library, director at Boston National Bank, proprietor of Palazzo Barbaro in Venice |
Daniel Sargent Curtis (1825–1908) was an American attorney and financier. He held positions such as trustee of the Boston Public Library and director at the Boston National Bank, and he was the proprietor of Palazzi Barbaro, Venice.
Early life
Daniel Sargent Curtis was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Thomas Buckminster Curtis and Maria Osborne Sargent. He hailed from the distinguished Sargent lineage, whose forebears were passengers on the Mayflower. His maternal grandfather, Daniel Sargent, maintained a close relationship with President John Quincy Adams. The Sargent family included prominent individuals like painter John Singer Sargent and Henry Sargent. Additionally, Curtis’s family ties extended to his aunt Nancy Brown (later Anne Sargent Gage), connecting him to influential Boston social circles.
He completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University in 1846 and earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1848.
Life in Italy
The Curtis family departed Boston in 1877, eventually establishing residence in Venice by 1880. Their primary home became the Palazzo Barbaro, which they initially leased starting in 1881 and subsequently acquired the upper two floors in 1885 for $13,500. Ariana Curtis prized the palace not for its dimensions but for its authentic 18th-century interior artistry. At the time of purchase, the building was deteriorated with many original artworks missing. The Curtises embarked on significant restoration efforts that transformed it into a vibrant cultural center and a focal point for cosmopolitan American expatriates.
Among their distinguished guests was British poet Robert Browning, who developed a close friendship with Daniel Curtis and delivered his final public reading at the Palazzo in November 1889. The renowned art patron Isabella Stewart Gardner frequently rented the residence during the Curtises’ travels beginning in 1890 and later drew inspiration from Venetian Renaissance palaces like Barbaro when designing her museum in Boston.
The "Barbaro Circle" became a magnet for leading artists and intellectuals including John Singer Sargent, Henry James, Whistler, Claude Monet, Bernard Berenson, William Merritt Chase, and writer Edith Wharton. Scholar and advocate Charles Eliot Norton was also closely linked to this influential assembly.
Personal life
In 1853, Daniel Sargent Curtis married Ariana Randolph Wormeley (1833–1922) in Newport. Ariana, who was born and raised in London as the daughter of a Royal Navy officer, descended from John Randolph (1727–1784). The couple returned to America in 1848, settling in Boston where their sons were born:
- Ralph Wormeley Curtis (1854–1922), an artist who wed Lisa de Wolfe Colt in 1897.
- Osborne Sargent Curtis (1858–1918), a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, who married Frances Henrietta Gandy.
Daniel was a generous benefactor to the Boston Public Library during his tenure as trustee. He and Ariana lived at Palazzo Barbaro until their passing; ownership has since remained with their descendants.
Descendants
His grandson through Osborne, Major-general Henry Osborne Curtis (1888–1964), served with distinction in both World Wars and earned numerous accolades including the Companion of the Order of the Bath and the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal.
Through Ralph, his granddaughter Sylvia Curtis (born 1893) married Alexander Steinert, with whom she had two sons: Russell Curtis Steinert (1927–2010) and Theodore Alexander Steinert. Following her divorce from Steinert, she remarried Schuyler Owen in 1947, who descended from Richard Stockton—a signer of the Declaration of Independence—and David Rittenhouse, an early astronomy professor at the University of Pennsylvania.