biography of Paul REVERE (1735-1818)

Birth place: Boston, MA

Death place: Boston

Addresses: spent his entire life in Boston

Profession: Engraver, printer, silversmith

Studied: silversmithing with his father, Apollos Rivoire

Work: John Singleton's portrait of Paul Revere is at the BMFA

Comments: Trained as a silversmith, Revere took up engraving about 1765 and throughout his career engraved bills, money, musical scores, political prints, cartoons, portraits, and views. He was also a copper worker, bell caster, and watercolorist. His best-known engraving, the Boston Massacre," was actually based on a depiction made by Henry Pelham (see entry). Revere is most famous for his activities as a patriot before and during the American Revolution.

Sources: G&W; Goss, The Life of Colonel Paul Revere; Forbes, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In. More recently, see Clarence S. Brigham, Paul Revere's Engravings (1969); Baigell, Dictionary; Saunders and Miles, 307-08 (which reprints excerpts of an angry letter from Pelham to Revere regarding Revere's engraving of "The Boston Massacre")."