These two portraits depict Elizabeth Oliver Lyde (1739–1820), daughter of loyalist Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver and his second wife, Mary Sanford. John Singleton Copley painted the portrait on the left in 1758, when Elizabeth was 19 years old. The watercolor on the right was painted by William Dunlap in 1811 or 1812 in New York City when Elizabeth was 72 or 73.
Though painted more than 50 years apart, there are striking similarities in the two portraits. Elizabeth’s penetrating dark eyes are depicted in both. As well, she wore almost the exact same shade of pink and has a similar head tilt.
Elizabeth married Boston merchant Edward Lyde in 1772. Their son, Edward, was born in 1773.
They were loyalists and moved from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia, then to England, during the American Revolution. The family moved to New York City sometime before 1811.
Elizabeth’s husband Edward died in 1812, Elizabeth died in 1820, and her son Edward never married and died in 1831. They are all buried in Manhattan.
The portraits are held by the Massachusetts Historical Society. View the 1758 portrait up close here, and the 1811/1812 portrait up close here.
