Paul Revere
Paul Revere (December 21, 1734 – May 10, 1818) was a prominent Boston silversmith, engraver, proto-industrialist, and patriot who played a key role in mobilizing the Colonial activism that led to the American Revolution. He is best known for the “midnight ride” during which he alerted the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces on the eve of the battle of Lexington.
History
Paul Revere produced some of the most sophisticated engravings of revolutionary era, including political cartoons intended to undermine British rule. A veteran of the French and Indian War (1754-63), Revere later joined the Sons of Liberty, a militant group formed in response to the passing of the 1765 Stamp Act. To mark the Act’s repeal in 1766, Revere designed an “obelisk of liberty” which he erected on Boston Common . Fashioned of translucent paper on a thin frame and illuminated from within by 280 lamps, the obelisk was ornately decorated with symbols, allegories, portraits, and inscriptions representing the triumph of American liberty and its heroic defenders. Although the obelisk was destroyed in a celebratory pyrotechnical display, Revere documented its appearance in a copperplate engraving [Fig. 1]. [1] During the build-up to war in the 1770s, Revere regularly contributed propagandistic engravings to the Royal American Magazine, while simultaneously helping to organize an intelligence system to gather and disseminate information about the movement of British troops. In April 1775, he was instrumental in preventing British capture of rebel leaders and weapons supplies in Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts, by sounding an alarm that called area militias into action. After the American Revolution, Revere became a successful businessman, operating a hardware store, a foundry, and the first rolling copper mill in the United States.
--Robyn Asleson
Texts
Images
References
Library of Congress Authorities
Dictionary of National Biography
Oxford Art Online
Wikipedia
Illustrated Inventory of Paul Revere's works at the American Antiquarian Society
Notes
- ↑ For the iconography of Boston illuminations and the use of obelisks in political celebrations, see Peter Bastian, "Celebrating the Empire in the Changing Political World of Boston, 1759-1774." Australasian Journal of American Studies, 16 (1997): 26–44, view on Zotero.
