Self-Portrait of John Singleton Copley

This 1769 self-portrait by painter John Singleton Copley (1738-1815), known for his elite portraiture in colonial New England, invites an examination of Copley's legacy. The portrait highlights the often-overlooked aspect of Copley's identity as an enslaver who had familial ties to slavery. Historic documentation affirms that the Copley family, both John Singleton Copley and his wife Susanna Farnham Clarke Copley (1745-1836), enslaved individuals on their property in Boston, Massachusetts. Copley's in-laws, the Clarke family, were equally dependent on the labor of enslaved domestic workers in their household and through Richard Clarke's business connection to the East India Company.