John Singleton Copley
American, 1738–1815
Portrait of Sarah Allen, née Sargent, c. 1763
Oil on canvas
Sarah and Nathaniel Allen were part of the new, wealthy merchant class in colonial Boston. For her portrait, Mrs. Allen asked to be pictured as a European aristocrat. John Singleton Copley obliged, copying her pose from a print based on a painting of a fashionable English lady. Largely self-taught, Copley was the first well-known American painter. He carefully captured both the physical aspects of his subjects—note the delicate texture of Mrs. Allen’s dress—and the psychological. He did not idealize Mrs. Allen, depicting her as a sturdy, masculine-looking woman, while showing her refinement in the way she daintily pulls on her glove.
