On May 14, 1853, the South Carolina Gazette posted notice of the recent union between “one of the officers in his Majesty’s customs,” Mr. George Roupell, and Miss Elizabeth Prioleau, “an agreeable young lady with a handsome fortune and other accomplishments.” Painted on the occasion of their marriage, this portrait was rendered by the only artist of note in the region, Swiss-born Jeremiah Theus, who worked out of Charleston. The ability of Prioleau’s family to engage such a high-status painter for her portrait unquestionably signaled her elevated status and class.