Richard Heber 

John Singleton Copley painted this portrait of Richard Heber using oil on canvas, a material and technique closely tied to wealth and status. Note how Copley’s brushwork brings Heber’s clothes to life. The weave of his linen shirt, the drape of his jacket, and the sheen of his buckled shoes, all speak to a life of leisure and privilege. Even the cricket bat, casually leaning against the tree, is rendered with care, its wood grain visible. The clothing and equipment that Heber is portrayed with are a product of a complex web of labor. Think of the farmers who raised the flax for his shirt, the weavers who turned it into fabric, the tailors who cut and sewed it, or the woodworkers who fashioned the cricket bat. Each element is a testament to the skilled labor that underpinned the material culture of the late 18th century. By attending to the materiality and making of this image, we can reflect on the social and economic context in which it was produced, and on the distinctions between fine art, craft, and the wider world of making.