The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 18, 2025

Portrait of Nathaniel Olds, a man with a light skin tone, faint stubble of a moustache, bushy dark brown eyebrows, and slightly wavy hair. He wears glasses with four, green tinted half-oval lenses—two in front of his eyes and two on the sides—and is dressed in a formal black coat with a stiff white collar. Olds sits against a neutral brown background and is painted with minimal shading, giving him a somewhat flat appearance.

Nathaniel Olds

1837
(American, 1811–1890)
America, Ohio, Cleveland
oil on canvas
Framed: 87 x 71.8 x 5.7 cm (34 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 2 1/4 in.); Unframed: 76.5 x 61.2 cm (30 1/8 x 24 1/8 in.)
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Jeptha H. Wade III 1991.134.2
Location: 205 Federal American

Did You Know?

This painting has a distinguished history inspiring Halloween costumes in the Cleveland area.

Description

Nathaniel Olds’s glasses have four tinted lenses, two of which are hinged side shields. This style was typically worn to protect sensitive eyes from excessive light, dust, or wind. Due to their occasional use during open-air travel, they were sometimes referred to as carriage or railroad spectacles. The painter of this portrait founded the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1854 and soon became one of Cleveland’s wealthiest industrialists. His grandson, Jeptha Wade II, was a founder of the Cleveland Museum of Art and donated the land upon which it stands as a Christmas gift to the city in 1892.
  • Nathaniel Olds (1788–c. 1840s), Farmer (later Interlaken), NY.
    Sally Avery Olds Roberts (1792–1874), Madison, WI, the sitter's widow, by inheritance.
    Sarah Jane Olds Tarr (1832–1912), Madison, WI, the sitter's daughter, by inheritance.
    Maud Ingman Tarr (1872–1963), Madison, WI, the sitter's granddaughter, by inheritance.
    State Historical Society of Wisconsin (now the Wisconsin Historical Society), Madison, WI, by bequest.
    Jeptha H. Wade III (1924–2008), Bedford, MA, by purchase in 1968.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, by gift in 1991.
  • Smee, Sebastian, "This Obscure Portrait Has a Cult Following for its High-Fashion Flair," Washington Post, August 8, 2024.
    Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79. Reproduced: p. 59; Mentioned: p. 66 www.jstor.org
    Wade, Jeptha H., Holly Rarick Witchey, and Ellery Sedgwick. The Autobiography of Jeptha Homer Wade, a Modest American: A Transcription and Accompanying Essays. 2018, 8. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 8-9.
    Bifano, Wayne Thomas, and Timothy Lachina. The Wade Chapel: A Story of Art, Spirit, and Family. Cleveland, Ohio: Lake View Cemetery Association, 2019. Reproduced: P. 22
  • {{cite web|title=Nathaniel Olds|url=false|author=Jeptha Homer Wade|year=1837|access-date=18 May 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.134.2