Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • Collection
  • Collection Research
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Watch / Listen / Read

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

Previous image 1 2 3 / 3 Next image

John Singleton Copley

Portrait of Rebecca Boylston Gill
Now On View

Description

Maker

John Singleton Copley (American, ca. 1738-1815)

Title

Portrait of Rebecca Boylston Gill

Year

ca. 1773

Medium

  • Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Oil on canvas

Materials

oil paint

Supports

  • canvas

Dimensions

126.4 x 100.3 cm (49 3/4 x 39 1/2 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signature: Unsigned

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum purchase with funds from Isaac C. Bates, William Gammell, Henry D. Sharpe, Miss Ellen D. Sharpe, Elizabeth A. Shepard, Daniel B. Updike, the Honorable George P. Wetmore and Mrs. Gustav Radeke

Object Number

07.120

Type

  • Paintings

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 1: Hand in Hand

  • Books

Selection VII: American Painting from the Museum's Collection, c.1800-1930

  • Books

Selected Works

Articles

Style and Sincerity

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Raid the Icebox Now with Nicole Eisenman
Tonight We Are Going Out And We Are All Getting Hammered
Nov 01, 2019 – May 01, 2021
Making It In America
Oct 11, 2013 – Feb 09, 2014

Label copy

Rebecca Boylston was 45 when she married widower Moses Gill; he was 38. She was a member of a prominent Boston merchant family and had acquired great land and wealth through inheritance. Gill (at right) commemorated their union by commissioning a portrait that emphasizes Rebecca’s urban sophistication. She wears a Turkish-style costume distinguished by gold embroidery, a silk turban laced with pearls, and a rose-colored mantle draped across one arm. A garden urn filled with lilies complements her fanciful attire. Rebecca confidently engages in this presentation of contemporary status and mode, creating an impression that contrasts distinctly with Copley’s portrait of her predecessor.

American Painting and Sculpture from the Permanent Collection
Jun 26, 1987 – Jan 03, 1988
Selection VII
American Paintings from the Museum's Collection, ca. 1800-1930
Mar 31, 1977 – May 08, 1977

Related Objects

Related Objects

A formal portrait of a man dressed in 18th-century attire, wearing a blue coat, shiny waistcoat, and powdered hair with his right hand on his hip.

John Singleton Copley

Portrait of Governor Moses Gill

More objects +

Use & Feedback

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

John Singleton Copley (American, ca. 1738-1815)
Portrait of Rebecca Boylston Gill, ca. 1773
Oil on canvas
126.4 x 100.3 cm (49 3/4 x 39 1/2 inches)
Museum purchase with funds from Isaac C. Bates, William Gammell, Henry D. Sharpe, Miss Ellen D. Sharpe, Elizabeth A. Shepard, Daniel B. Updike, the Honorable George P. Wetmore and Mrs. Gustav Radeke 07.120

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use