Portrait of Henry Middleton 1771

Benjamin West painted this portrait of Henry Middleton in oil, probably in the late 18th century. Middleton was a wealthy planter from South Carolina. West, on the other hand, was a Pennsylvanian who gained fame in London as a painter of historical scenes. This portrait gives us a clear view into the elites of colonial society, who are often missing from conventional histories. Note the trappings of wealth and status in Middleton’s clothing: the powdered wig, the elegant coat, the gold brocade vest. These are visual codes of class and power. But this image also raises questions. What does it mean to be an American subject of the British crown? How did people of his class navigate the growing tensions between the colonies and the mother country? Middleton, after all, served as president of the First Continental Congress in 1774, so he would have been on the front lines of those debates. Historical research into the biographies of the artist and his sitter, as well as the economic and political conditions of the time, can give us a far richer understanding of what this painting might mean.