William Lloyd Garrison
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; bequest of Garrison Norton
Accession Number
NPG.96.102
Tags
About this artwork
Born Newburyport, Massachusetts
Art Historical Context
This compelling 1833 portrait by Nathaniel Jocelyn (1796–1881) captures William Lloyd Garrison, a towering figure in American reform movements. Painted at the height of the abolitionist struggle, it depicts the Massachusetts-born activist in an intimate interior setting, complete with eyeglasses that underscore his role as a sharp-minded lecturer and newspaper publisher. Now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection, thanks to the bequest of Garrison Norton, the work exemplifies 19th-century portraiture's power to immortalize reformers. Garrison's historical significance shines...