Cleveland Museum of Art

Nathaniel Hurd

John Singleton Copley

Date

c. 1765

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

America

Department

American Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Hurd was a prominent silversmith and engraver in Boston, and the warm gaze and unforced smile in his portrait by Copley suggest the friendship between the two artists. Hurd's open-collared shirt, as well as the rakishly tilted turban that covers his shaved head in place of a ceremonial powdered wig, create an air of informality that is unusual for a portrait of this time. The artist Copley’s in-laws were consignees for the cargo dumped during the Boston Tea Party.

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