Cleveland Museum of Art

Nathaniel Olds

Jeptha Homer Wade

Date

1837

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

America, Ohio, Cleveland

Department

American Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Nathaniel Olds’s glasses have four tinted lenses, two of which are hinged side shields. This style was typically worn to protect sensitive eyes from excessive light, dust, or wind. Due to their occasional use during open-air travel, they were sometimes referred to as carriage or railroad spectacles. The painter of this portrait founded the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1854 and soon became one of Cleveland’s wealthiest industrialists. His grandson, Jeptha Wade II, was a founder of the Cleveland Museum of Art and donated the land upon which it stands as a Christmas gift to the city in 1892. This painting has a distinguished history inspiring Halloween costumes in the Cleveland area.

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