Portrait of Major David Coffin

This portrait is paired with that of Elizabeth Stone Coffin, which hangs to the far left. Unusually, both portraits are signed and dated, Elizabeth's to June 10, 1801, and Daniel's to June 13, 1801. Brewster, who was deaf from birth, learned to paint from a minister. His family was well connected - his father was a physician and sat in the Connecticut General Assembly - and he utilized those networks to secure commissions in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, where he later moved. Though early systems for sign language existed, education of the deaf was by no means standardized, and the extent of Brewster's abilities to communicate are unclear, though obviously he was not hindered in his career as an artist.