James Sherwood Pitkin

1843-1914

James Sherwood Pitkin was from a wealthy family which, like the family of Hoyt Sherman, traced its ancestry from colonial Connecticut. Although his primary career was as a banker, as well as the manager of the family’s assets, Pitkin appears to have been an amateur painter. He was married to Louisa Sherman Pitkin (1843-1887), relative of Hoyt Sherman, and their son, James Sherman Pitkin (1880-1950), received this watercolor as a gift from his father when he entered Harvard University in 1899.