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Increase Mather

Increase Mather Oil on canvas
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Oil on canvas by John van der Spriett, 1688

124 cm x 102.5 cm; in frame 148.2 cm x 126 cm x 6.2 cm

Artwork 01.175


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[ This description is from the project: MHS 225th Anniversary ]

John van der Spriett's portrait of Increase Mather depicts the Puritan minister in his library. Mather was associated with the infamous Salem witch trials of 1692-1693; he largely defended the trials in his writings and sermons, though he warned against the use of "spectral evidence."