Mary and Elizabeth Royall 1758

John Singleton Copley made this oil on canvas painting of Mary and Elizabeth Royall. The material reality of this portrait really jumps out at you – and I don’t just mean the skillful rendering of flesh, hair, and fabric. Copley also gives us a strong sense of the social context of the painting. Look closely at the girls’ silk dresses. Copley highlights the luxuriousness of this imported fabric, a material inextricably linked to international trade and indeed, the institution of slavery, upon which the Royall family fortune was based. The portrait suggests the amount of work involved in the production process of maintaining a family’s status, wealth, and position in society. The girls are positioned to present wealth and status, with the silk and lace requiring specialist skills in weaving and embellishment. By attending to the material reality of Copley’s painting, we begin to appreciate the complex interplay of art, craft, labor, and social power that the image conveys.