Federal Charleston ranked as one of the largest American cities. With a population only slightly smaller than Boston and Baltimore, it had long been connected commercially and socially with them and with Philadelphia. Young Thomas Sully grew up amidst a sophisticated group of French and British refugees. Sully painted his first portrait at 19. In Richmond Sully painted Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, actor, manager, and the owner of New York's Park Theatre, one of several English players who became stars in America. Sully in December 1807 moved to Philadelphia. There he shared a studio with the miniaturist Benjamin Trott. Sully first petitioned the Pennsylvania Academy for $3000 to support him while abroad he painted Old Masters for the collection. When that proposal did not meet approval, his Philadelphia patron, Benjamin Chew Wilcocks, arranged for him a subscription by friends and lovers of art. Like other aspiring American artists before him, Sully came armed with a recommendation for Benjamin West.