Anthony Gwyn (1710–1776), was born near Swansea in Wales. He was a mariner, merchant and a founder of St. Paul’s Church. He served as warden and almost continuously as a vestryman from 1745 to 1771. A relief portrait of Gwynn is carved on his gravestone with him stylishly attired in a coat, eight-button vest, cocked hat, wig and holding a staff. A patch covers his left eye. It is the earliest surviving secular effigy on a gravestone in New England. It marked a break with the religious iconography of prior gravestone art. The original gravestone, attributed to Henry Christian Geyer of Boston, was removed in 1982 and placed on permanent loan to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This cast replica replaces the original. Buried: St. Pauls Cemetery, Newburyport, Mass.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 01:37:58 +0000
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