Portia and Shylock 1835

Thomas Sully created *Portia and Shylock* using oil on canvas, a technique that’s central to European painting, and with its own complex history. Here, the oil paint has been thinned, allowing Sully to achieve almost porcelain-like surfaces. The painting feels smooth, and the texture is very fine. It’s a stark contrast to the weighty themes of law, justice, and mercy being played out in the narrative. Sully’s handling of the paint is decidedly light, and airy. The way he builds form is soft, with subtle gradations of color. In terms of labor, the use of oil paints suggests a world of commerce: the grinding of pigments, the pressing of linseed oil, and the global trade that brought these materials together. This was not a peasant activity. So even though *Portia and Shylock* depicts a scene from Shakespeare, its true subject may be the cultural world of mercantile capitalism.