American patriot Paul Revere is wrapped in the swirling mixture of myth
and poetry through which history often descends, but as a craftsman and
artist, he left behind more tangible traces as well. In this volume,
esteemed art historian Gerald W.R. Ward tells the true story of Revere's
most iconic creation, the Sons of Liberty bowl, bravely made and marked
by the rebel and silversmith on the threshold of the Revolutionary War.
John Singleton Copley's portrait of Revere, created the same year, 1768,
helps introduce the man he was and the legend he became. The painting
and the silver bowl are both popularly reproduced and have joined
retellings of his Midnight Ride to define Revere in the American
imagination, in turn signifying the Revolution and the young country's
values.