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John Winthrop

John Winthrop
Artist
Unidentified Artist
Copy after
Unidentified Artist
Sitter
John Winthrop, 1587/8 - 1649
Date
c. 1800, after early 17th century original
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Sight: 74.6 x 62.2cm (29 3/8 x 24 1/2")
Frame: 93.7 x 81.4 x 6.7cm (36 7/8 x 32 1/16 x 2 5/8")
Topic
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Collar\Ruff
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Goatee
John Winthrop: Male
John Winthrop: Politics and Government\Governor\Colonial Governor\Massachusetts
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Dr. and Mrs. R. Ted Steinbock
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.2004.1
Exhibition Label
Born Edwardstone, Suffolk, England
English Puritan and lawyer John Winthrop was a founding member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Appointed as the colony’s first governor in 1629, Winthrop proclaimed that this godly community would be a “city upon a hill” for other nations to admire. Serving twelve non-consecutive terms as governor, he guided the commonwealth in its foundational years. The government he formed was inseparable from Puritan values. Although Winthrop and his fellow Puritans had fled religious persecution in Britain, they did not tolerate dissent in the new commonwealth, which banished anyone who challenged religious authority.
As colonists expanded their settlements on Indigenous lands, Winthrop declared war against the Pequot tribe. Following the massacre of Pequot people in 1637, he proclaimed victory and declared a public day of thanksgiving. Indigenous prisoners of war were traded for goods or enslaved by colonists, with Winthrop owning at least one.
Nacido en Edwardstone, Suffolk, Inglaterra
El abogado de fe puritana John Winthrop estuvo entre los fundadores de la colonia de la Bahía de Massachusetts y fue designado su primer gobernador en 1629, proclamando que esta devota comunidad sería una “ciudad en lo alto de una colina” para admiración de las demás naciones. Sirvió 12 términos consecutivos como gobernador y guio a la mancomunidad en sus años fundacionales. Su gobierno era inseparable de los valores puritanos. Aunque él y sus compañeros de fe habían huido de la persecución religiosa en Gran Bretaña, no toleraban disensiones en la mancomunidad, y quien desafiara la autoridad religiosa era expulsado.
Mientras los colonos expandían sus asentamientos en tierras indígenas, Winthrop declaró la guerra a la tribu pequot. Tras la masacre del pueblo pequot en 1637, proclamó su victoria y declaró un día de “acción de gracias”. Los prisioneros de guerra indígenas fueron intercambiados por mercancía o esclavizados por los colonos, incluido Winthrop.
Provenance
(Adam A. Weschler & Son, Inc., Washington, 13 December 2003, lot 538); purchased NPG
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
On View
NPG, East Gallery 144