AFA 18th Anniversary

18th Anniversary 146 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com R esearch can lead to unexpected surprises. Such was the case as I conducted a study of the portrait subjects painted by artist John Smibert (1688–1751). An anomaly in a published resource regarding the sitter Lydia Henchman Hancock opened an avenue of discovery relating to the family of patriot John Hancock and three portrait miniatures: of Hancock and his two children, Lydia and John (Figs. 1-3). Hancock family descendants owned the miniatures until 1932 when they entered a museum collection. They have been resting in storage for eighty-five years, disconnected from their context and proper provenance. What follows is a story of discovery and of setting the record straight. A H a n c o c k F a m i l y S t o r y : R e s t o r i n g C o n n e c t i o n s by Pamela Ehrlich