Paul Revere, 1768

Oil on canvas; 89.22 x 72.39 cm (35 1/8 x 28 1/2 in). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA.

Copley’s portrait of his friend and colleague abides by the rules of colonial portraiture and perhaps embeds an encoded story.

The obvious clues to Revere’s artistic identity are his open-collared shirt, lack of a coat, contemplative hand-to-chin pose, teapot without an inscription, and tools of the silversmith's trade. The embedded narrative centers on the teapot — Revere crafted only one in 1768 — since his clients had boycotted tea.

I set out on this ground, which I suppose to be self-evident, that the earth belongs in usufruct to the living; that the dead have neither powers nor rights over it. This, with its echo of the Declaration (self-evident) was Jefferson at his most terse. Except for the phrase in usufruct — a legalism meaning the right to use property for a certain time — Jefferson’s words could be chiseled in stone, or shouted on the hustings.

— Richard Brookhiser

James Madison (2011)