affinity with Great Britain, it is not surprising that these colonists favored styles that were
characteristically British, including the style of their portrait paintings.
British fashions and furnishings, designs and décor all were
in vogue for the colonial elite to emulate. Wealthy colonial
men and women, particularly Loyalists, were enamored
with the current trends in British portrait painting. While
these men and women could afford to travel to sit for
famed British artists like Thomas Gainsborough or Joshua
Reynolds, many chose to employ an artist in the colonies
who had similar training and stylistic attributes as
Gainsborough and Reynolds. For the elite in Boston, only
one artist had all of these qualities – John Singleton Copley.
Not only was Copley trained in London, but his own
personal political leanings were that of a Loyalist.
The Hooper family of Marblehead, Massachusetts, a port
town just north of Boston, were one of Copley’s richest patrons and provided Copley with
numerous commissions. From 1763 until Copley left American shores in 1774, he painted many
members of Robert Hooper Jr.’s family including his father, step-mother, and several of his
siblings. In the colonies, to own a commissioned portrait indicated the owner’s wealth and
status because not everyone could afford to have their portrait painted. This portrait of Robert
Hooper Jr., painted before the American Revolution, is an image of a successful businessman.
His gaze drifts towards the open window – a nod to the source of his wealth, his mercantile and
shipping businesses. Hooper grasps a stack of papers in his hands, perhaps a stack of shipping
ledgers.
The Hooper family owned the largest and most profitable shipping business in Marblehead,
Massachusetts, and therefore had a considerable amount of social and political influence. They
were well-known Loyalists, even allowing the British commander-in-chief, and then
Massachusetts governor, General Thomas Gage to use their home as his headquarters prior to
the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Hooper family were also vocal supporters of the
royally-appointed governor of the Massachusetts colony, Thomas Hutchinson. Most Patriot-
leaning colonists had viewed Hutchinson’s performance in office as deplorable, accusing him of
pushing a British agenda. He was politically polarized and was identified as the main proponent
of the British taxes on the colonies. Yet several men in the Hooper family, including Robert
John Singleton Copley Self-Portrait, 1780-
1784, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian
Institution