Portrait of Mrs. Joseph Henshaw 1768 - 1772

John Singleton Copley painted this portrait of Mrs. Joseph Henshaw during a time of rising colonial tensions, a period that significantly shaped his artistic career and personal identity. Copley, torn between loyalty to the British Empire and his American roots, navigated a complex social landscape where class, gender, and politics were deeply entwined. Mrs. Henshaw, adorned in pearls and fine fabrics, embodies the ideals of colonial womanhood. Yet, her gaze, directed slightly away, hints at the internal and external pressures faced by women of her status. As wives of merchants and landowners, they were central figures in maintaining the social and economic order of the colonies, but they also confronted constraints imposed by patriarchal norms and expectations. Copley’s ability to capture this tension transforms the portrait into a mirror reflecting the delicate balance between privilege and constraint, representation and reality, that defined colonial society on the brink of revolution.