Description:
three quarter length portrait of an older man in long white wig, coat, vest, breeches and white stockings, seated legs crossed, hands together on proper left thigh, a small stand to his proper right holding paper, three ink wells and feather pen, curtain behind to his proper right; man; costume/uniform; portrait; furniture
Label Text:
John Erving was born in Scotland and shipped to Boston as a common sailor at the age of only eleven or twelve. He settled there and eventually became one of the city’s wealthiest merchants. Copley, the portraitist most favored by Boston’s colonial elite, presents Erving in a casually confident pose.
The clothing Erving wears is moderate and conservative. The material is a practical wool with simple, cloth-covered buttons and no gilt trim. His full, frizzy wig was old-fashioned by this time, and a dusting of wig powder on his right shoulder adds to the sense of ease and informality. The slightly oversized head and hands convey that he is a man of thought and action, but they are also an indication of Copley’s lack of access to formal training in the American colonies.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1975.52.1 |
