About the Artwork
In this portrait, Mary Boylston Hallowell (1722 – 1795) sits in comfort in luxurious surroundings, the large gray dove perched on her left hand signifying peaceful ease. Boston painter John Singleton Copley made a practice of rendering his Massachusetts sitters in fashionable settings. This was particularly appealing to the Boylston and Hallowell families, who commissioned seven portraits from the artist between 1765 and 1767.
The calm the artist depicted belies the reality of Hallowell’s life, which had recently been sent into turmoil. Mary’s husband Benjamin Hallowell (1725 – 1799) became a commissioner of customs for the port of Boston in 1764. Protestors ransacked the Hallowell house during 1765 riots against the British Stamp Act taxes, which Hallowell collected as customs commissioner. The family was not home at that time. In their absence, protestors attacked Copley’s portrait of Benjamin (Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; and Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine), slashing it five times.
Mrs. Benjamin Hallowell
1766 or 1767
John Singleton Copley
1738-1815
American
----------
Oil on canvas
Unframed: 47 × 37 1/2 inches (119.4 × 95.3 cm) Framed: 57 5/8 × 48 × 3 inches (146.4 × 121.9 × 7.6 cm)
Paintings
American Art before 1950
Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Fund, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund and Beatrice W. Rogers Fund
71.168
Public Domain
Markings
Please note: This section is empty
Provenance
the sitter, Mary Boylston Hallowell;her daughter, Mary Hallowell Elmsley;
her daughter, Mary Elmsley Bond;
her daughter, Elizabeth Bond Coke;
her son, George Elmsley Coke;
his son, Basil Elmsley Coke;
his daughter, Mrs. A. R. (Cassandra Coke) Wise;
her son, Adam Nugent Wise;
1971, Leger Galleries (London, England);
1971-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
Please note: This section is empty
The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Jones, E.A. The Loyalists of Massachusetts: Their Memorials, Petitions, and Claims. London, 1930, p. 158.
Parker, Barbara Neville and Anne Bolling Wheeler. John Singleton Copely: American Portraits in Oils, Pasel, and Miniature. Boston, 1938, p. 95.
Prown, J.D. John Singleton Copley, 1774-1815, vol. 2. Cambridge, MA, 1966, pp. 54-56, 108, 124, 140, 142, 217 (fig. 190).
Hood, Graham, Kathleen Pyne, and Nancy Rivard. "American Paintings Acquired During the Last Decade." Bulletin of the DIA 55, 3 (1977): pp.70-72 (ill.).
Shaw, Nancy Rivard, et al. American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Volume 1: Works by Artists Born Before 1816. New York, 1991, pp. 59-60 (ill.).
Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.
Suggest FeedbackCatalogue Raisoneé
Please note: This section is empty
Credit Line for Reproduction
John Singleton Copley, Mrs. Benjamin Hallowell, 1766 or 1767, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Dexter M. Ferry Jr. Fund, et al., 71.168.
More by Artist
Feedback
We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
