Foster, Lafayette Sabine (1806 - 1880)
Role: Acting Vice President of the United States; U.S. Senator from ConnecticutDates: 1865 - 1867; 1855 - 1867
Portrait Location: Library Annex
Artist: Hinckley, Robert (b. 1835)
Portrait Date:
Medium: Oil on canvas
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Brown Portrait Number: 65
Brown Historical Property Number: 1292
Born in Franklin, Connecticut, Lafayette Foster worked his way through Brown by teaching in Providence and graduated in 1828. After teaching in Maryland and being admitted to the bar there, he returned to Connecticut, where he also practiced law. He was a three-times member of the Connecticut house of representatives, holding the position of speaker for three terms. From 1855 to 1867 he was a member of the U.S. Senate and acting vice president from 1865 to 1867. In 1869 he was invited to teach law at Yale College, but he declined the offer, and a year later became a justice in the Connecticut supreme court.
Robert Hinkley was a Washington artist who painted the portraits of 350 eminent Americans. His work has been exhibited all over the country. He was well acquainted with Foster and painted his portrait from a photograph taken sometime between 1860 and 1870. The painting was given to Brown by Martha Lyman Prince Foster in 1895.