John Singleton Copley’s portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Smith, set in gilt frames that only the richest Bostonians could afford, capture the image of wealthy Americans on the eve of the Revolutionary War. Isaac Smith, the uncle of Abigail Adams, and thus by marriage of Founding Father John Adams, was a successful Boston merchant who sold wine and other imported goods. Wearing a powdered wig and an elegant plum-colored suit with gold buttons, he sits at a worktable, preoccupied with the papers at hand. Elizabeth Smith gazes directly out at the viewer. She holds grapes in her lap, perhaps a subtle allusion to her husband’s business. Luxury is evident everywhere, from the armchair upholstered in yellow damask, to the pearls in her hair and around her neck and the rich silk of her dress and robe. Copley provided his sitters with images that are simultaneously realistic and idealized—recording not only how the Smiths actually looked but also the way in which they wanted to be perceived.