When it came to art, Colonial America was the most provincial of provinces. The Protestant leisured classes had little interest in painting. Even Copley, the most brilliant and successful artist of his day, complained bitterly that in Boston art would be unknown were it not for "preserving the resemblance of particular persons." Yet, within the limitations of the portrait genre, Copley attained a technical and conceptual sophistication rivaling the best of European painting. His achievement is all the more remarkable considering that he was largely self-taught without benefit of European study.

Copley's portrait of Mrs. Russell exemplifies the artist's mature style, marked by a somber palette, dramatic lighting, exacting observation, and a virtuosic ability to realize in paint both the physical and psychic being of the sitter. Mrs. James Russell (1717-1778), of Charlestown, Massachusetts, was the daughter and wife of judges and, judging from her portrait, a formidable personality in her own right. Richly if somberly dressed and ensconced in an amply upholstered armchair, she eyes the world with calm assurance and perhaps a touch of hauteur. The studied informality of the pose encourages an easy rapport with the sitter: apparently we have interrupted her reading. Though light falls opulently upon the satin gown and starched apron, the focus of our attention is the head, ringed in lace and starkly highlighted against a deeply shadowed background.