Analyse en anglais de mr and mrs mifflin de copley 35728

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Clémence Montaubin

Humanities IV

Mr. Soule

4/20/2009

Short Analysis of John Singleton Copley’s Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin.

The John Singleton Copley’s painting, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Mifflin (1773) reflects the change in the society at the beginning of the revolution. Gordon Wood’s ideas, such as the change of the role of the women in the society, the enlightenment and, more generally the radical change in the society, are represented in this painting.

When you look at this painting, the first person that you see is Mrs. Mifflin. She’s in the light, and she looks at us and wears bright colors. Her husband, Mr. Mifflin, is represented more in the dark, wearing darker colors and looked at his wife. They’re also painted on the same plane. Gordon Wood talks about this great change in the form of the painting in his book. ?In earlier the eighteenth century family portraits,? says Gordon Wood ?fathers had stood constantly above their wives [...] now they were portrayed on the same plane with them.? The role of the women changed a lot at that time, and we can see it in this painting. The women’s look seems determined. Earlier in the history of American painting, we see that the women are represented with an ?empty? look. They were asked ?not to think?, but now, in 1773, they gained in autonomy and ?some recognition of their rights to hold property, to divorce and to do business.?(Wood 184).The men’s sentiment for their wives also changed. Mr. Mifflin seems to have affection for his wife, and he is looking tenderly at her. His hand is almost touching her, and he stopped his reading to stare at her. Different lines are created in this painting and all of them lead to her. The arm of her husband is ?pointing? at her face, the look of her husband is directed to her, the thread she is holding is making a straight line to her body, and the light on the column in making a semi circle which come back to her. She is the center of attention and it partially reflects the society at that time.

?Enlightenment? is a term used often by Gordon Wood to put a word on the new society in the middle end of the eighteenth century. Mrs. Mifflin weaves while Mr. Mifflin reads. Reading became a very common pastime, which shows the change in the culture. What is interesting is that Mr. Mifflin chose to be represented with this book in his end. It shows us the new society of culture and enlightenment. People want to be seen as intellectual rather than merchant or aristocrats. This scene is a normal scene happening in a normal day. The column behind them is the only object of decoration. It shows the interests of the for the Roman and Greek cultures. The absence of every other ornament is a way to emphasize the expression and action of Mr. and Mrs. Mifflin. The clothes are rich and let us imagine that the family is wealthy. Mr. Mifflin is certainly a gentleman, because of his clothe, his serious look and the book in his hand which shows that he can at least read, but also enjoy the reading. More, his hands are not a worker hands, they are typical aristocratic hands. It’s certainly to valorize the book that Copley made Mr. Mifflin’s hands so bright. The focusing on the two people is helped by another point of the form of this painting: their head are painted right in the middle of the picture, which helps to focus on their expressions and the way they show their sentiments. And they are the only bright points of the painting. This shows a new ?enlightened? society: people focused more on the mind, the personality, the culture of the others rather than focusing on the money, or more precisely on what they could do with this money. Wood would later say that they had an ?enlightened relationship.? (Wood 169)