John Winthrop (1587/8-1649), c. 1630/1691

| Anonymous
| oil on canvas (transferred from panel 1)
| 35 x 28 3/4 (88.900 x 73.0250)
| Bequest of William Winthrop, 1830
| Weis 147

Ex. Coll.: possibly owned by the sitter's grandson Adam Winthrop (1647-1700), owned by his son Adam Winthrop (1676-1743), to his son John Winthrop (1714-1779), to his son the donor.

Exhibitions:
1930, "One Hundred Colonial Portraits," Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
1935, "XVIIth Century Painting in New England," Worcester Art Museum.
1971, "Early American Paintings from the Worcester Art Museum and the American Antiquarian Society," Worcester Art Museum.
1977, "Wellsprings of a Nation," Worcester Art Museum.

Publications:
Charles K. Bolton, The Founders: Portraits of Persons Born Abroad 2 (Boston: Boston Athenaeum, 1919): 521.
Louisa Dresser, XVIIth Century Painting in New England (Worcester: Worcester Art Museum, 1935): 156.
The Winthrop Papers (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1947): frontispiece
Louisa Dresser, "Portraits in Boston," Journal of the Archives of American Art 6, nos. 3, 4(July-October 1966): 17.
Louisa Dresser, "Portraits Owned by the American Antiquarian Society," The Magazine Antiques 95(November 1969): 718.
Rodger D. Parker, Wellsprings of a Nation (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1977): 19-20.

 

| PDF of full entry & biography

1. In 1908 the Boston restorer, Hermann Dudley Murphy, transferred the painting from a panel to canvas. See Murphy’s receipt of April 21, 1908, which states:  “To removing from oak panel, lining, cleaning and repairing various holes, cracks, etc. in a portrait of Gov. Winthrop. $40.”  American Antiquarian Society archives.