What role do material goods play in Samuel Sewall’s courtship of Katherine Winthrop (the widow of a descendant of John Winthrop)? To what extent do Sewall and Winthrop have a shared consumer vocabulary, a shared sense of self defined in part by goods? Are there ways in which their understandings of consumer goods separate them?
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How do the consumer goods in Copley’s portraits define the people in them? Explain how Copley intends to portray one or two of his sitters and the ways that particular material goods around them enable that portrayal.
The consumer goods in Copley’s portraits help to show the wealth of the subjects he is painting. As we can see from John Adams’ description of Nicholas Boylston’s home, it is obvious that Boylston was very concerned with his home being an instant display of his wealth to his guests. Adams describes the ornate furnishings in the house that must be worth a thousand pounds sterling. Through Copley’s paintings it is clear that he wants to similarly make Boylston’s wealth obvious. In the portrait of Boylston he is wearing clothes that appear to be all made of silk with lavish maroon curtains behind him and has his arm resting on what appear to be two leather bound books. In addition, the views of the harbor with ships in the background show to the viewer that Boylston’s home is on prime real-estate. Clearly only a wealthy and scholarly man would own all of these items.
With the portraits of the sitters, it is again clear that a display of wealth is a main objective of these paintings showing that even his sitters are able to live in luxury. Like the portrait of Boylston, the most eye-grabbing element of the painting is the clothing that the sitters are wearing. Again they are dressed in fine and elegant silks with detailed embroidery that only a person of high wealth would be able to afford. As important as their clothes is the architecture behind both Mrs. Pickman and Mrs. Sargent. The details like the railing to the left of Mrs. Pickman and the fountain in Mrs. Sargent’s painting show the wealth needed to afford such architecture.