Portrait of John Hancock
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1775
name: label: depicted
content: Hancock, John
label: original artist
content: Copley, John Singleton
label: engraver
content: Hiller, Joseph
notes: label: Description
content: John Hancock (1737–1793), Boston merchant and politician, is famous for his prominent signature on the Declaration of Independence. He presided over the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia between 1775–1777, and later served as governor of Massachusetts.
label: Description
content: Hancock's portrait was painted by Boston artist John Singleton Copley early in the 1770s. The painting, now in the Massachusetts Historical Society, was copied by several printmakers. Joseph Hiller Senior's mezzotint survives in two versions. The Museum's copy of this print is one of the earlier state with just Hancock's name. Another version with the addition of his title, "President of the Continental Congress," and the artist's name, is in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
label: Description
content: Joseph Hiller Sr. worked as a silversmith in the 1770s. Like Paul Revere, another Boston silversmith in this era, Hiller also made engravings. Hiller may have worked directly from Copley's portrait or copied another print. Several printed portraits of Hancock made before 1800 offer evidence of popular interest in images of political figures and the active market for prints.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Massachusetts
topic: label: Subject
content: Portraits
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Graphic Arts
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: "Hancock by Hiller," IMPRINT
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Roger P. Templin in memory of Daisy Templin
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: GA.24021
label: catalog number
content: 24021
label: accession number
content: 219034
objectType: label: Object Name
content: print
label: Other Terms
content: print; Intaglio; Mezzotint
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: sheet: 26 cm x 19.8 cm; 10 1/4 in x 7 13/16 in
label: Measurements
content: image: 23 cm x 19.8 cm; 9 1/16 in x 7 13/16 in