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Ward Nicholas Boylston
Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828)
1825
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
91.76 x 71.12 cm (36 1/8 x 28 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Barbara Boylston Bean
Accession Number1976.666
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsPaintings
Born Ward Hallowell, this man became the heir and namesake of his uncle, wealthy Boston merchant Nicholas Boylston. A Loyalist, Ward Boylston left America in 1773 to travel in Europe and the Middle East. He settled in London but returned to Boston in 1800 to reestablish his profitable import business. Stuart painted this portrait at Boylston's country estate in Princeton, Massachusetts. The artist had depicted Boylston before, creating a design for Harvard Medical School's Boylston Prize medal. Boylston was an important benefactor of the school.
ProvenanceThe artist; Alicia Darrow Boylston, Princeton, Mass., wife of the sitter, 1828; to Dr. Ward Nicholas Boylston, Princeton, grandson of the sitter, 1843; bequeathed to his brothers and sisters, 1870; to Mrs. Louisa Boylston (Mrs. Edwin J.) Nightingale, Providence, R.I., the surviving sister, 1887; Estate of Mrs. Nightingale, 1895; to Ward Nicholas Boylston, Jr., Brattleboro, Vermont, her nephew, 1925; Mrs. Paul Webster (Barbara Boylston) Bean, 1963; 1976, bequest of Barbara Boylston Bean to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 8, 1976)