Young Woman with a Pearl Necklace c. 1660s

Isaac Fuller made this drawing, Young Woman with a Pearl Necklace, using pen and brown ink, sometime in the mid-17th century. The work exemplifies a genre of portraiture that was closely tied to the social and economic hierarchies of Stuart England. Fuller was working in a society where access to luxury goods like pearl necklaces was determined by social class. Portraits like this weren't just about capturing a likeness; they were about signaling status and respectability. The pearl necklace, carefully rendered, speaks volumes about the sitter's position within society, as does the fashionable, if rather unkempt, curly hairstyle. Fuller, an academically trained artist, likely made this portrait to appeal to wealthy patrons who sought to legitimize their status through visual representation. To fully understand Fuller's work, we might delve into the social history of portraiture in England, looking at how artists navigated the demands of their patrons while also negotiating their own artistic ambitions. Art history, at its best, is a means of understanding the complex interplay between art, power, and society.