The names of individuals who sat for portraits in colonial New England are exclusively those of governors, merchants, and parochial and legal authorities. When studying early New England portraiture, it does not take long to encounter the portraits of people like Governor John Winthrop, merchant John Freake Jr., and Reverend Ebenezer Devotion. Their portraits, and those of other colonial elite, have been highlighted by scholars such as Mary Black, Jean Lipman, Elizabeth Kornhauser, and Jack Larkin. Collectively, their works help conclude that the threads that connect early portrait sitters are wealth, race, and social standing.
The purpose of this article is to showcase how the exclusivity of portraiture was dismantled by industrialism and the subsequent growth in a new middle class. While the story of portraiture's democratization is reflected in American societies as they transformed from pastoral landscapes to urban centers, this article focuses specifically on Middletown, Connecticut. At the...
