...Samuel Copeland, a secondhand-clothing dealer and real-estate investor from Chelsea, Massachusetts, was sufficiently affluent to pay full price for this complex and handsome portrait of his daughters. The girls—Eliza (about 6 years old), Nellie (about 2), and Margaret (about 4)—wear the off-the-shoulder dresses that were fashionable in the 1850s; their necklaces and hair ribbons also indicate their father’s prosperity. The book, flowers, and fruit they hold indicate that they are educated, obedient, and have a pleasant demeanor. The book has special poignancy, for Copeland, despite his business acumen, could neither read nor write. In addition to being a skilled portrait painter, Prior ... counted a number of African Americans among his clients, including Samuel Copeland, and unlike many other images of blacks by artists of his day, Prior’s were painted with seriousness and sympathy. (http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/three-sisters-of-the-copeland-family-33213)