John Hancock
Portrait, oil on canvas by John Singleton Copley, circa 1770-1772
73.8 cm x 61.7 cm; in frame: 88 cm x 76.2 cm
By the time John Singleton Copley painted this portrait of John Hancock in the early 1770s, Hancock, a former Loyalist, had already become a patriotic hero in America. Although local authorities generally ignored smuggling activity, the Massachusetts royal governor decided to make an example of Hancock when he imported a large cargo of wine on his ship, the Liberty, in 1768. The governor seized the ship and the townspeople rioted in protest, turning Hancock into a symbol of English repression. He went on to become the most famous signer of the Declaration of Independence and the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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