Grace Mendes Seixas Nathan (Mrs. Simon Nathan) and Her Son Seixas Nathan

William James Hubard

ca. 1824

Silhouette portrait of a seated woman and a boy, standing.

Grace Mendes Seixas Nathan was born in Connecticut in 1752 to a patriotic, literary Jewish family. In 1780, she married the British merchant Simon Nathan, a supporter of the American Revolution who arrived in colonial America in 1773. Their son Seixas, born in 1785, was one of the signers of the New York Stock Exchange’s constitution and the president of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first Jewish congregation established in North America. Silhouette portraits cut from paper, affordable and easy to obtain, were popular before the advent of photography.

Credits

Private collection.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.

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Creator Bio

William James Hubard

William James Hubard was an English painter who specialized in silhouettes, portraits, and miniatures. He came to America in 1824 and soon thereafter established his own successful gallery in Boston. He later moved to Virginia. In 1853, he was given an exclusive license by the Virginia General Assembly to make bronze copies of Houdon’s marble statue of George Washington. In 1862, during the Civil War, he was killed in an accident while making munitions for the Confederate army.

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