Mercy Otis Warren Sister and wife of prominent Massachusetts revolutionaries, Mercy Otis Warren was well positioned to know about revolutionary politics. Abigail and John Adams were close friends until she broke with them in 1788 over her support for antifederalism. At age thirty-five, in 1763, she sat for Boston artist John Singleton Copley wearing a shimmering blue silk gown ornamented with expensive lace.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA/Bequest of Winslow Warren/Bridgeman Images.