Matthew Pratt (1734-1805)
Oil on canvas, 1772
Gift of the Partnership for New York City, Inc.
NYSM 2003.41.2

Cadwallader Colden was one of the most important figures in 18th century colonial New York. During his long life he was Surveyor General of New York and Lieutenant Governor of the colony. The epitome of the educated gentleman in the Age of Enlightenment, he was fascinated with mathematics, natural philosophy, anthropology, and botany, introducing the Linnaean system into America. Early in life he was a physician and a successful merchant. His numerous writings included a History of the Five Indian Nations, published in 1727. An ardent royalist, he died shortly after the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

Matthew Pratt’s portrait of Colden was commissioned by the New York Chamber of Commerce in recognition of Colden’s interest in the organization and his assistance in gaining its royal charter in 1768. Pratt, who was Benjamin West’s first American pupil in London in the 1760s, was a successful portrait painter in New York, Philadelphia, and Virginia.