Details

Title

Portrait of Elizabeth Deering Wentworth Gould Rogers (Mrs. Nathaniel Rogers)

Artist/Maker

John Singleton Copley

Date

ca. 1765

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

29 15/16 x 24 13/16 inches

Credit

Purchase with Henry B. Scott Fund

Accession #

59.9

Location

On View - Stent Family Wing, Level 3, Gallery 307

John Singleton Copley already had a reputation as Boston’s leading artist when he painted this wedding portrait of Elizabeth Rogers. Copley’s work was distinguished from that of his peers by his ability to skillfully convey his sitters in a highly realistic yet artful manner. Here, Copley suggests Mrs. Rogers’s modesty and gentility through her averted gaze, aristocratic bearing, and fashionable dress. Like most early American artists, Copley trained in another field—in his case, silver engraving—and learned to paint by copying engravings of European pictures. His skills eventually gained him admittance to the esteemed British Royal Academy.