{
"data": {
"id": 155822,
"accession_number": "1991.134.2",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Nathaniel Olds, 1837. Jeptha Homer Wade (American, 1811\u20131890). Oil on canvas; framed: 87 x 71.8 x 5.7 cm (34 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.); unframed: 76.5 x 61.2 cm (30 1/8 x 24 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Jeptha H. Wade III, 1991.134.2",
"current_location": "205 Federal American",
"title": "Nathaniel Olds",
"creation_date": "1837",
"creation_date_earliest": 1837,
"creation_date_latest": 1837,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America, Ohio, Cleveland"
],
"technique": "oil on canvas",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "American Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "American - Cleveland School",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 87 x 71.8 x 5.7 cm (34 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.); Unframed: 76.5 x 61.2 cm (30 1/8 x 24 1/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 0.87,
"height_inch": 34,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"width": 0.718,
"width_inch": 28,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"depth": 0.057,
"depth_inch": 2,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.25
},
"unframed": {
"height": 0.765,
"height_inch": 30,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.125,
"width": 0.612,
"width_inch": 24,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.125
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "signed on back: J.H. WADE / 6-37-15 / Farmer Valley",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Nathaniel Olds (1788\u2013c. 1840s), Farmer (later Interlaken), NY.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Sally Avery Olds Roberts (1792\u20131874), Madison, WI, the sitter's widow, by inheritance.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "Sarah Jane Olds Tarr (1832\u20131912), Madison, WI, the sitter's daughter, by inheritance.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Maud Ingman Tarr (1872\u20131963), Madison, WI, the sitter's granddaughter, by inheritance.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "State Historical Society of Wisconsin (now the Wisconsin Historical Society), Madison, WI, by bequest.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "Jeptha H. Wade III (1924\u20132008), Bedford, MA, by purchase in 1968.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, by gift in 1991.",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": null,
"sortorder": 7
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [
{
"id": 155821,
"description": "Sally Avery Olds, 1837. Jeptha Homer Wade (American, 1811\u20131890). Oil on canvas; unframed: 73.3 x 61 cm (28 7/8 x 24 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Jeptha H. Wade III, 1991.134.1",
"relationship": null
}
],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"1991.135"
],
"did_you_know": "This painting has a distinguished history inspiring Halloween costumes in the Cleveland area.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Nathaniel Olds\u2019s glasses have four tinted lenses, two of which are hinged side shields. This style was typically worn to protect sensitive eyes from excessive light, dust, or wind. Due to their occasional use during open-air travel, they were sometimes referred to as carriage or railroad spectacles. The painter of this portrait founded the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1854 and soon became one of Cleveland\u2019s wealthiest industrialists. His grandson, Jeptha Wade II, was a founder of the Cleveland Museum of Art and donated the land upon which it stands as a Christmas gift to the city in 1892.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60476638"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1991.134.2-nathaniel-olds"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Smee, Sebastian, \"This Obscure Portrait Has a Cult Following for its High-Fashion Flair,\" Washington Post, August 8, 2024.",
"page_number": "",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Turner, Evan H. \"The Year in Review for 1992.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 59; Mentioned: p. 66",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161388"
},
{
"citation": "Wade, Jeptha H., Holly Rarick Witchey, and Ellery Sedgwick. The Autobiography of Jeptha Homer Wade, a Modest American: A Transcription and Accompanying Essays. 2018, 8.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 8-9.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Bifano, Wayne Thomas, and Timothy Lachina. The Wade Chapel: A Story of Art, Spirit, and Family. Cleveland, Ohio: Lake View Cemetery Association, 2019.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: P. 22",
"url": null
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.134.2",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.134.2/1991.134.2_web.jpg",
"width": "710",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "359255",
"filename": "1991.134.2_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.134.2/1991.134.2_print.jpg",
"width": "2705",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4886686",
"filename": "1991.134.2_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1991.134.2/1991.134.2_full.tif",
"width": "3711",
"height": "4664",
"filesize": "51947052",
"filename": "1991.134.2_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Jeptha H. Wade III",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Walter and Jean Kalberer Foundation Gallery",
"athena_id": 155822,
"creators": [
{
"id": 2841,
"description": "Jeptha Homer Wade (American, 1811\u20131890)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1811",
"death_year": "1890",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1991-09-23T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1837,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1837",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "component",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": "1991.134",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Portrait of a Man"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:05:47.642000"
}
}