Nathaniel Hurd
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Museum

Nathaniel Hurd

c. 1765
John Singleton Copley (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1738–1815) visual detail
ArtistJohn Singleton Copley (American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1738–1815)
View artist →

Market Intelligence

Observed sale facts, comparable evidence, artist index history and modeled research remain separate.

Public evidence
Last known price—0 matched observed sales
Observed median—
Observed sales0
Artist index—
No rights-cleared normalized observed sale is attached to this artwork. No synthetic price history is shown.
Artist index unavailableNo completed public artist-index build exists.Artist-level context is not an artwork valuation.

Comparable Sales

Same-artist public sales ranked by medium, creation year, dimensions and sale recency.

Evidence ranked
No public-rights comparable sales meet the current evidence criteria. RELICT does not fill the table with research-only or licensed-only facts.

Provenance

Public
-1781

Benjamin Hurd [1739-1781], Halifax, Nova Scotia, by descent to his son, John Hurd

1781-

John Hurd, Halifax, Nova Scotia, by descent to his two daughters

-by 1860

Daughters of John Hurd [d. by 1860], Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Mrs. Thomas Barry

By 1860-1869

Mrs. Thomas Barry [d. 1869], Halifax, Nova Scotia, by gift to Walter Wesselhoeft

1869-1915

Walter Wesselhoeft [1838-1920], Cambridge, MA, consigned to the Copley Gallery

1915

(Copley Gallery, Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1915-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Source provenance text

Benjamin Hurd [1739-1781], Halifax, Nova Scotia, by descent to his son, John Hurd John Hurd, Halifax, Nova Scotia, by descent to his two daughters Daughters of John Hurd [d. by 1860], Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Mrs. Thomas Barry Mrs. Thomas Barry [d. 1869], Halifax, Nova Scotia, by gift to Walter Wesselhoeft Walter Wesselhoeft [1838-1920], Cambridge, MA, consigned to the Copley Gallery (Copley Gallery, Boston, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Exhibitions

Public
Source exhibition text

Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916). The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936). The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941). Silver and American Tradition. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI (organizer) (February 13-March 19, 1953). Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963). Four Centuries of American Masterpieces. 1964 New York World's Fair, New York, NY (May 1-October 18, 1964). John Singleton Copley: A Retrospective Exhibition. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer) (September 18-October 31, 1965); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (November 20, 1965-January 2, 1966); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (January 22-March 6, 1966). The Face of Liberty. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (December 23, 1975-February 8, 1976). John Singleton Copley's America. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (June 7-August 27, 1995); The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (September 26, 1995-January 7, 1996); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (February 4-April 28, 1996). Nathaniel Hurd. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, NY (November 22, 1999-April 10, 2000). CMA @ Oberlin - American Portraits. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 29-December 17, 2006). Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, The Inaugural Exhibition (6 June-20 September, 1916); cat. p. 255. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, One Hundred Colonial Portraits (19 June-21 September 1930), cat. no. 50. Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art, Catalogue of the Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition (26 June-4 October, 1936), illus. plate II, cat. no. 23, pp. 21-22. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, An Exhibition of Paintings by John Singleton Copley: In Commemoration of the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of His Birth (22 December, 1936-14 February, 1937), illus. 16. Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, Two Hundred Years of American Painting, (15 January-28 February, 1938), no. 2. New Haven, Yale University Gallery of Fine Arts, Masterpieces of New England Silver 1650-1800, (18 June-10 September, 1939), ill. no. 224, p. 94. Flint, Mich., Flint Institute of Arts, Art Marches On: The Opening and Dedicating Exhibition of the New Flint Institute of Arts (14 November-31 December, 1941), illus no. 53, p. 30. Oberlin, Ohio, The Dudley P. Allen Memorial Art Museum, The Arts in the Americas in the Eighteenth Century (1946), cat. no. 1 (see Bulletin of the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, vol. III, no. 3 (May, 1946). Dallas, The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Survey of American Painting from 1700 to the Present (5 October - 3 November 1946); cat. 200 Years of American Painting. Denver, The Denver Art Museum, American Heritage: An Exhibitions of Paintings and Crafts 1770-1790 (7 March-11 April 1948), ill. p. 9. Denver, The Denver Art Museum, Portraiture Through the Ages (9 January - 15 February 1950). Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, George Washington's World (15 January - 14 February 1954), cat. no. 5. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Colonial Silversmiths, Masters and Apprentices (13 November - 30 December 1956). Jewett Art Center, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, Four Boston Masters (10 April-11 May, 1959), cat. no. 8, repr. p. 25; traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (19 May - 26 June 1959). Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Style, Truth and the Portrait (1 October -10 November, 1963), ill. cat. no. 29. New York, The Gallery at The Better Living Center, New York World's Fair, Four Centuries of American Masterpieces (22 May-18 October 1964), p. 18, illus. p. 18; (arranged by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture). Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art, John Singleton Copley, 1738-1815 (18 September - 31 October 1965), pp. 45-9, illus. p. 47; traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (20 November 1965 - 2 January 1966); traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (22 January - 6 February 1966). Fort Worth, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, The Face of Liberty: Founders of the United States (23 December 1975 - 8 February 1976), illus. colorplate 16. Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Silver in American Life (24 June - 16 August 1981); exhibited in gallery but not in catalogue. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, John Singleton Copley in America (7 June - 27 August 1995), traveled to New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art (26 September 1995 - 7 January 1996), traveled to Houston, Museum of Fine Arts (4 February - 28 April 1996), did not travel to Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Museum; cat. no. 21, p. 57, 93, 119, 208-11, 248, 300, 312. Rochester, New York, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, ABOUT FACE: Copley's Portrait of Nathaniel Hurd, Colonial Silversmith and Engraver, (1 November 1999-1 March 2000), see Porticus journal.

The Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%
Related public works

Visual neighbours

Explore catalog →

Sourced Overview Evidence

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 Cleveland Museum of Artconfidence 100%

Evidence state

0 observed sales · 0 comparable sales · 7 structured provenance events · 11 structured exhibitions.

Place Of OriginShort DescriptionProvenance TextExhibition HistoryCredit Line