Art of the Americas: 1700–1800
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark (detail), 1778. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. George von Lengerke Meyer.
John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere (detail), 1768. Oil on canvas. Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere.
Paul Revere Jr., Sons of Liberty bowl, 1768. Silver. Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912.
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark (detail), 1778. Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. George von Lengerke Meyer.
John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere (detail), 1768. Oil on canvas. Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere.
Paul Revere Jr., Sons of Liberty bowl, 1768. Silver. Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912.
“The new 18th-century galleries underscore an enduring truth: America will never be finished.”
A silver bowl. A Wampanoag woman’s outfit adorned with beads and quills. A charismatic silversmith considering his craft. A towering mahogany desk and bookcase. Certain paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and works on paper from the MFA’s Art of the Americas art collection, along with the artists who created them, played a pivotal role in shaping the early history of the United States. Today, they have a unique ability to recount and reflect that history while also inviting us to reconsider it.
The MFA’s reimagined galleries of 18th-century Art of the Americas bring together works from across North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean—including works by Native American and Indigenous makers. Together, the eight spaces in this suite, organized by theme, explore how artists have contributed to, or in some cases resisted, ideas of nationhood and identity. Visitors can immerse themselves in expansive versions of familiar stories, discovering the interconnectedness of the Americas and its history, institutions, and people.
Gilbert Stuart’s unfinished portrait of George Washington (1796)—the foundational image of the nation’s first president in the public imagination—offers viewers a timely reminder that democracy is constant work in progress. An early piece of American protest art, Paul Revere’s Sons of Liberty Bowl (1768) honors a group of Massachusetts rebels who paved the way for the Revolution. A ceramic jar (1857) by the enslaved potter and poet David Drake exemplifies literacy as an act of resistance in the years leading up to the Civil War. Thomas Sully drew on artistic traditions of heroism for The Passage of the Delaware (1819), which portrays George Washington in a dramatic scene of bravery. Meanwhile, a recently acquired work by Alan Michelson, a Mohawk member of Six Nations of the Grand River, offers a contemporary critique of Washington, who was known to the Mohawk Nation as “Town Destroyer.” These and the many other works on view reveal a past in dialogue with the present and propose endless possibilities for assessing history as we look ahead to the future.
- Art of the Americas Wing, Level 1
Featured Artwork
Thomas Sully, The Passage of the Delaware, 1819
Oil on canvas. Gift of the Owners of the old Boston Museum.
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778
Oil on canvas. Gift of Mrs. George von Lengerke Meyer.
Joseph Savart, Woman from Guadeloupe with Pink and White Shawl, 1769
Pastel on paper. Henry H. and Zoe Oliver Sherman Fund.
Dave (later recorded as David Drake), storage jar, 1857
Alkaline-glazed stoneware. Harriet Otis Croft Fund and Otis Norcroft Fund.
Alan Michelson, Hanödaga:yas (Town Destroyer): Reflect, 2024
Mirror-finished stainless steel cast by Urban Artist Projects on a treated wooden base. Helen and Alice Colburn Fund. © Alan Michelson.
Mexican artists, desk and bookcase, mid-18th century
Inlaid woods and incised and painted bone, maque, gold, and plychrome paint, metal hardware. Henry H. and Zoe Olier Sherman Fund.
Paul Revere Jr., Sons of Liberty bowl, 1768
Silver. Museum purchase with funds donated by contribution and Bartlett Collection—Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912.
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, 1796
Oil on canvas. William Francis Warden Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Commonwealth Cultural Preservation Trust. Jointly owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC.
André Pierre, Retour Des Esprits Guinen Après La Guerre d’Indépendance d’Haiti (Return of the Spirits of Ginen After Haiti's War for Independence), 1990
The Fulling Collection.
Possibly by William G. Henis, Goddess of Liberty weather vane, 1860–80
Copper with traces of gilding. Gift of Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf.
Miguel de Herrera, Portrait of Doña Feliciana Belendes y Ramirez, 1783
Oil on canvas. Museum purchase with funds by exchange from the Alfred Stieglitz Collection—Bequest of Georgia O'Keeffe, and A. Shuman Collection—Abraham Shuman Fund, Emily L. Ainsley Fund, and Robert Jordan Fund.
John Singleton Copley, Paul Revere, 1768
Oil on canvas. Gift of Joseph W. Revere, William B. Revere and Edward H. R. Revere.
Attributed to Benjamin Randolph with carving attributed to John Pollard, tea table, about 1775
Mahogany. Gift of Barbara L. and Theodore B. Alfond.
Miguel Cabrera, Don Manuel José Rubio y Salinas, Archbishop of Mexico, 1754
Oil on canvas. Charles H. Bayley Picture and Painting Fund.
Audio Tour on MFA Mobile
Explore MFA Mobile on Bloomberg Connects to go deeper and hear perspectives from curators, artists, and community members. The audio tour includes text transcripts and detailed audio descriptions of the featured artworks for visitors who are blind or have low vision. Access the tour from home or bring your ear buds or headphones for the full in-gallery experience.
Sponsors
The reinstallation of “Art of the Americas: 1700–1800” is made possible with generous support from an anonymous donor, the Henry Luce Foundation, Sanofi, Biogen, the Americana Foundation, Lisa and Stephen Lebovitz, Ellyn McColgan, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional support is provided by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.