Edward Coplestone, DD

Phillips's portrait of Edward Copleston from 1826 is another representation of the scholar and ecclesiastic—different from his later Bishop of Llandaff portrait—showing him at a stage of his career when he was still deeply embedded in the Oxford intellectual world that his Provostship of Oriel was transforming. The multiple portraits by Phillips of the same distinguished sitters reflect both the demand for images of significant figures and the painter's sustained relationships with the institutional and intellectual elite whose needs he served. Copleston's intellectual significance—his role in nurturing the generation that produced the Oxford Movement—gives these portraits a historical importance beyond their immediate documentary function.

The academic portrait presents Copleston in his scholarly context, with the robes and setting identifying his institutional position. Phillips's handling is characteristically professional, with careful attention to the sitter's features and the details of academic dress. The composition serves its institutional purpose of recording a distinguished college member.