In 1851, Arthur Denny, at the age of 29, led a contingent of his family west from Illinois to the Pacific Northwest, where he helped found the city of Seattle. He served as Seattle's first postmaster, was a delegate to the Washington Territorial Legislature, was one of King County's first commissioners, and he was instrumental in founding the University of Washington. The artist of this portrait, Helmuth Emanuel Edwin Berhard Dirckink-Holmfeld (1835-1912), was born in Denmark, and by 1893, he had traveled to Montreal, Canada where he had a studio. In 1896, he was in Seattle according to an article in the Seattle P-I dated March 28, 1897, and titled: "University of Washington. New Portrait of Hon. A. A. Denny-Contributions Acknowledged." The article goes on to say: " F. de D. Holmfeld, a Danish baron, sojourning in America, is an artist gathering characteristic sketches of scenes and people in different parts of this country. Finding a quaint old room unused on the old university grounds he obtained the use of it as a studio while at work on Puget Sound. As compensation for the use of the room he has painted from life and presented to the university a fine portrait of Hon Arthur A. Denny, Seattle's first settler and a strong friend of this institution since its organization. Mr. Denny is called by many the "father of the university."