AFA 18th Anniversary

Dorothy. 12 On July 4, 1776, Founding Father John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence. In November he became a father when Lydia Henchman Hancock was born, named for John’s beloved Aunt Lydia who had died in April. 13 On December 3, Peale recorded John Hancock ’s f inal payment of twelve guinea s for t he miniatures in his diary, just before he left to join Washington’s Army (Fig. 8). Fearing an imminent British attack on Philadelphia, Congress removed to Ba ltimore, Mar yland, in December. Dorothy and Lydia went with John. The British Army passed by Philadelphia, so in March 1777, Congress made plans to return. John traveled back to the city alone, Dorothy and Lydia to follow later. He wrote to Dorothy on March 10, “I have sent everywhere to get a gold or silver rattle for the child with a coral to send but cannot get one. I will have one if possible on yr. coming. I have sent a sash for her...” The purple sash Lydia wears in the miniature is likely this present from her father. 14 Dorothy returned to Philadelphia with a very sick baby. There were bills for a doctor’s care and medicine even before they left Baltimore. Baby Lydia died in August 1777. John Hancock called upon carpenter David Evans, the man who had made his “Desk for congress,” “for a Mohagany [ sic ] Coffin 2 feet 6 inches long.” 15 This bill, dated August 11, is the only record of Lydia’s death. Having just returned to Philadelphia, Peale must have painted the posthumous miniature of Lydia at this time; he did not keep his diary from July through September 17. Nonetheless, Charles Coleman Sellers wrote: “On several occasions in his career Charles Willson Peale was asked to undertake the disagreeable task of painting a dying or dead child, including children of John Hancock, William Delany, and Richard Tilghman. In no case has such a portrait survived.” 16 Lydia’s portrait (fig. 2) is set against a background of evening clouds and a distant landscape holding a fully open white rose, a symbol of youthful feminine purity and innocence. The urn and weeping willow in her portrait are standard mourning iconography. 17 Peale was known to base portraits of absent children on their parents’ features. Lydia’s portrait echoes John’s. Peale wrote to Hancock on July 24, 1780, 2018 Antiques & Fine Art 151 Fig. 7: Mrs. John Hancock (Dorothy Qunicy [sic] . Artist unknown, American School, Massachusetts, 1801–1850. Miniature on ivory, 3⅞ x 3 inches. Image courtesy of Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive. Photographer Ira W. Martin. The current location of this work is unknown. requesting payment for the miniature. Again, on June 20, 1784, Peale reminded him: “I do not recollect to have received any pay for the portrait which I made in miniature of the little one which you lost when in this city.” 18 By the end of August, Philadelphia was bracing yet again for a possible British incursion. John sent Dorothy home to Boston, while he f led with the Congress to York, Pennsylvania. On September 26, 1777 the British conquered Philadelphia. In October the fortunes of war began to improve for America with the great victory at Saratoga and when the French became allies. But John Hancock was worn out and sick. He had lost his child and was worried about his wife. He resigned on October 29 and returned to Boston having served longer than any other President of Congress had or would during some of the most difficult times.