Copley, John Singleton (b. July 3, 1738, Boston [Mass., U.S.]–d. Sept. 9, 1815, London,
Eng.) Generally considered the finest painter of colonial America, John
Singleton Copley painted portraits and historical subjects. His Boston
portraits show a thorough knowledge of his New England models, and his talent
as a draftsman and colorist produced pictures of aristocratic elegance and
grace (emigrated to London in 1775).
Copley was
born on July 3, 1738, in Boston, Mass., to immigrants recently arrived from
Ireland. He began to paint in about 1753. His earliest works show the influence
of his stepfather, an engraver, and the Boston artist John Smibert. In about
1755 Copley met the English artist Joseph Blackburn, whose use of rococo
lightness and coloring he quickly adopted. He also made use of the rococo
device called portrait d’apparat–portraying the subject with objects
associated with his daily life–that gave his work a distinction not usually
found in 18th-century American painting.
Eager to
expand his reputation beyond New England, Copley sent his Boy with a
Squirrel in 1766 to the Society of Artists in London. It was praised by
both Sir Joshua Reynolds and by the transported American artist Benjamin West,
who urged him to come to London. He did so in 1774 and painted his first
important work, Watson and the Shark, there in 1778. In this
painting Copley used what became a frequent theme of 19th-century Romantic art,
the struggle of humans against nature.
Although
he remained in England the rest of his life and was moderately successful, his
historical paintings never had the vitality or realism of his Boston portraits.
Copley died in London on Sept. 9, 1815.
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