Drapery Study for ‘Mary and Elizabeth Royall’ c. 1758

John Singleton Copley created this drapery study for 'Mary and Elizabeth Royall' using graphite on paper. Copley was the preeminent portrait painter of colonial New England. Here, the folds and shadows articulate the fabric’s texture. What do these textiles tell us? Wealth and status were visually communicated in this period through dress. Such fabrics came to the colonies through complex trade routes, trafficking not only in luxury goods, but also in human beings. The Royall family, for example, made their fortune in the transatlantic slave trade. In many ways, Copley’s paintings present an idealized vision of colonial life, often obscuring the complex realities of race, class, and gender that shaped it. This piece invites us to consider the relationship between representation, identity, and historical narrative.