_Reverend Increase Mather_ by John Sturt

Collection ID: ART.001401
Type: Art
Date: 1724
Geography: United States
Language: N/A
Medium: Engraving
Dimensions: 6.68 × 3.93 × .06 in. (17 × 10 × 0.1 cm)
Exhibit Location: On View in the Bowden Gallery of Biblical Art, Impact of the Bible in the World

This is one of the earliest portraits printed in America. The earliest was a 1670 woodcut of Richard Mather (Increase’s father) by American artist John Foster. This one, by British artist John Sturt, was used in Cotton Mather’s book, Memoirs of Remarkables in the Life and Death of the Ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather.

Increase Mather (1639–1723) was a Puritan minister and sixth president of Harvard College. He was an important bridge between Puritan theology and the growing Enlightenment movement. He was also associated with the Salem Witch Trials, as was his son, Cotton Mather.

Printed in 1724. Acquired by 2019 by Ted Steinbock, private collector, Louisville, Kentucky; Privately purchased in 2020 by Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.

Reference Cotton Mather, Memoirs of Remarkables in the Life and Death of the Ever-memorable Dr. Increase Mather.