About the Artwork
This painting was most likely executed as a wedding portrait to commemorate the marriage of Hannah Loring to the prosperous merchant Joshua Winslow. Miss Loring, a member of a wealthy Boston family, and her husband were loyal to the British king. (They were among the group whose tea ended up in Boston Harbor.) By 1775 she was widowed and was forced to flee Boston with her family when the British withdrew from the city. Unable to return, her property having been confiscated, she spent the remainder of her life in Canada, where she was forced to live under greatly reduced circumstances.
Hannah Loring
1763
John Singleton Copley
1738-1815
American
Unknown
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 49 3/4 × 39 1/4 inches (126.4 × 99.7 cm) Framed: 58 1/4 × 49 1/4 × 4 inches (148 × 125.1 × 10.2 cm)
Paintings
American Art before 1950
Gift of Mrs. Edsel B. Ford in memory of Robert H. Tannahill
70.900
This work is in the public domain.
Markings
Signed and dated, left center: J.S. Copley Pinx 1763
Inscribed, left center: J.S. Copley Pinx 1763
Provenance
1763-1785, Hannah Loring
her daughter, Hannah Winslow de Paiba
her daughter, Mrs. L. G. M. Temple (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
L. G. M. Temple (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). 1893, William Caleb Loring (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). 1938, his nephew, Augustus P. Loring (Boston, Massachusetts, USA). by 1966, William Caleb Loring (Prides Crossing, Massachusetts, USA). 1970, Kennedy Galleries (New York, New York, USA). 1970-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Bayley, F. W. The Life and Works of John Singleton Copley. Boston, 1915, pp. 167-168.
___________. Five Colonial Artists of New England. Boston, 1929, p. 291.
Bolton, Theodore, and Harry Lorin Binsse. "John Singleton Copley." Antiquarian 15 (December 1930): p. 118.
Parker, Barbara N. and A.B. Wheeler. John Singleton Copley: American Portraits in Oil, Pastel , and Miniature, with Biographical Sketches. Boston, 1938, pp. 125-126 (pl. 37).
Prown, Jules D. John Singleton Copley. Cambridge, MA, 1966, p. 38.
Forty Masterworks of American Art. Exh. cat., The Hirschl and Adler Galleries. New York, 1970 (figs. 4-5).
Winchester, Alice. (Untitled Article). Antiques 99 (May 1971): p. 695.
Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 132.
Butler, J.T. “Copley Portrait for Detroit.” Connoisseur 176 (April 1971): p. 289.
Hood, Graham, Kathleen Payne, and Nancy Rivard. “American Paintings Acquired During the Last Decade.” Bulletin of the DIA 55, 2 (1977): pp. 65, 69-70 (ill.).
100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, pp. 180-181 (ill.).
Shaw, Nancy Rivard, et al. American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Volume I. New York, 1991, pp. 56-57 (ill.).
Kong-Perring, Sharon. "Lydia Loring and the Loring Family of Massachusetts, Part II." The Revere House Gazette, no. 131 (Summer 2018): p. 3 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
John Singleton Copley, Hannah Loring, 1763, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mrs. Edsel B. Ford in memory of Robert H. Tannahill, 70.900.
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