Remembering Joseph Warren is an exhibit of paintings, engravings and sculptures presented by collector and curator Shane Newell. The works are gathered from the century following Warren's death at the Battle of Bunker Hill and contemporary works that place Warren in narrative settings during his lifetime. The collection is exhibited by special arrangement. Â
By 2025, the collection may permanently reside at the Warren County Historical Society in Queensbury, NY. Learn more here.
The Newell collection is featured in the book Joseph Warren and the Boston Rebellion with detailed descriptions (shown, in part, below).
Boston's Museum of Fine Art licensed this scale reproduction of the original John Singleton Copley painting of Joseph Warren about 1765. Painted by renowned portrait artist Bradley Stevens. The background elements of the painting—the column, landscape view, pink drapery and table covering, and matching pink chair—are Copley’s creations, serving to provide a grand setting for Warren’s likeness and to signal the physician’s elevated taste. The chair, upholstered in a velvety material, has an exposed frame that is vaguely European in form. The white linen shirt, ruffled cuffs, and white silk stockings mark Warren as a man of some wealth and consequence.1 This representation matches the description of Warren as “a pretty, tall, Genteel, fair faced young gentleman.” Handsome and charismatic, he was easily recognized in the flourishing city.
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Painted by Historical Artist Dan Nance. Acrylic/oil depicts Warren moments before the third advance by British troops which breaks the American lines. British Troops had been repelled twice earlier in the day. In the third advance, the American line runs out of gunpowder. Warren had been pleading to the adjacent Colonies for months to send gunpowder, but supplies were too short to spare. As the militia begins to retreat, Warren draws his sword beneath the fateful grey skies. Warren’s willingness to set aside the pen and pick up a sword was far more warrior-like than his political contemporaries. Joseph Warren, as President of the Provincial Congress, was the only political figure that fought as a common soldier during the American Revolution. Warren’s presence on the battlefield gave moral support to the militia and to the cause of their service.
The “Sons of Liberty” by Gregory Lawler is a collage of portraits depicted in the manner of John Singleton Copley (1738-1815). The painting is oil on linen measuring 6 feet across. Seated at the table are Boston’s most notable revolutionary men, left to right: Dr. Joseph Warren, Paul Revere, John Adams, Sam Adams, and John Hancock. The allegorical scene of an evening meeting held at The Green Dragon Tavern circa 1775. Although Warren is positioned far left, he is the focal figure of the painting. Adjacent to Warren, the virile tradesman Paul Revere is focused and brooding in his hand-to-chin pose. At the center of the table is John Adams, the Massachusetts’ representative in the Continental Congress and future second President of the United States. Sam Adams is right of younger cousin John. Sam sits back in his chair appearing patient and calm, though he is a powerful instigator of the ensuing political rebellion. On the far right, the wealthy merchant John Hancock is wearing a finely made blue wool frock with gold braid and buttons. Poised over his campaign chest, he holds a feather quill, ever-ready to boldly inscribe his great name. Detached from the moment, Hancock stares off scene with an aristocratic gaze.
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Porcelain life-sized bust of Joseph Warren by artist Adrien Miller at his studio gallery in Seattle, Washington. After portrait by John Singleton Copley.
“Dr. Joseph Warren,” by renowned American Folk Artist Frank Finney This depicts Warren when he gives his dramatic oration at the Old South Meeting House in a Ciceronian toga on March 6, 1775. Wood and painted surface.
The Joseph Warren Distinguished Service Medal was first created in 1930. It is one of the highest honors given by the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts, second only to the Henry Price Medal in Masonic honors. Extending from Freemasonry there are separate sub-fraternities that issue Joseph Warren Commandery medals and commemorative Triennial medals to its distinguished members. Many of the Triennial medals are embossed with the "Birth Place of Gen. Joseph Warren" on the front and the location of the State Lodge. The Commandery medals are often very colorful and ornate jewels that become family heirlooms and collectible treasures. Beyond fraternal honors, Warren County, New York and Warren, Maine, in 1913 and 1976 respectively, issued centennial medals in honor of their namesake with a relief bust of Joseph Warren on the medallion front. The silver 1913 Warren County Centennial Celebration Medal is exceedingly rare. Rarer still is the Bunker Hill Centennial Anniversary Medal, struck in silver and gold colors, issued in 1875. One side depicts the Bunker Hill Monument and the other side a relief sculpture of John Trumbull’s iconic painting “The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill.”
Oil on canvas by Gregory Lawler depicting the morning of March 6, 1775. Joseph Warren, a physician-turned-revolutionary leader, stopped his one-chair carriage in front of Boston's Old South Church. Warren climbed down from the carriage, followed by a servant holding a small bundle. The two men crossed the street and entered an apothecary's shop. When Warren came out of the store he was draped in a Ciceronian toga. He now crossed the street once more and burst into the swarming Old South to deliver the fourth annual Boston Massacre oration. The Ciceronian toga was the principal garment of a freeborn Roman male citizen. It consisted of a single piece of material of irregular form—long, broad, and flowing, without sleeves or armholes. To wear such a garment was to do away with all that superficial finery with which a corrupt Britain government had used to disguise its contempt for American liberty and continental dignity.
Small portrait painted after John Singleton Copley’s full-length portrait of the sitter. However, Warren’s face appears younger than in the two portraits painted by Copley. Unlike Copley’s “full-body” portrait, this painting depicts Warren in a uniform. At the time, the Continental Army uniform had not been invented. Many post-mortem paintings and engravings (including a later painting by Copley at the request of John Adams) depict Warren in an “honorary” uniform according to his rank as Major General.
Reproduction of the original Warren Tavern Sign by Walker’s Colonial American Sign Company of York, Pa. Eliphalet Newell was a Boston Tea Party participant, member of the Boston militia, Captain of the first Massachusetts regiment at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and artillery officer of the Revolutionary Army. On December 11, 1777, he became an initiated Freemason at St. Andrews’ Lodge in Boston. He was a baker by trade and a Masonic brother of Dr. Joseph Warren. His Charlestown tavern, which still stands today, was built in 1780 and named in honor of his fallen friend. Its large sign, which swung from a high post, portrayed Warren in his Masonic insignia as Grand Master. The sign, according to accounts, also depicted sprigs of Acadia which symbolize the immortality of the soul. Neither the original sign, nor anything remotely like it, hangs at the Warren Tavern today. The sign may have been the first “monument” constructed in honor of Joseph Warren.
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