John Singleton Copley
The Copley Family (figure 1) is a large work of art; it measures in at 89 by 107 inches in its frame. The figures appear roughly life-size and seem remarkably life-like; the sense of depth is so strong, that when you stand before the painting, you almost get the impression that you could walk right into the picture and join in the group portrait. It’s a very sweet, charming scene: the children playfully twist out of their formal poses (as would unruly kids for any family photo), and interact with their adult family members. If you pay attention to the individual figures, you notice that each is in his or her own unique position and sports a distinctive facial expression. The tender embrace between mother and child—a personal moment revealing the sentimental bond between the two—is a detail that hints at the psychology, personality, and family dynamics of the painting’s subjects. The level of intimacy in the work is not surprising when we learn that the head of the family, the man standing in the rear and looking out directly at the viewer, was also the artist: John Singleton Copley.
Figure 1. John Singleton Copley, The Copley Family, 1776–77, oil on canvas (National Gallery, Washington)
For many students new to art history, American portraiture of the colonial period can be difficult to love. When visiting museums and historic houses, viewers are often taken aback by how stiff and unnatural the subjects of these early paintings appear, how expressionless their faces, how contrived their positions. An example is John Smibert’s The Bermuda Group (figure 2), a painting deserving of its own attention and place in history, but a work that is more somber, less legible to modern eyes, and harder for us in the twenty-first century to relate to. Copley’s work stands out starkly against that of his contemporaries and predecessors: his subjects appear to inhabit a three-dimensional world instead of resting shallowly on the canvas, they seem natural, effortless, and have distinct personas. His paintings are rife with eye candy, with every illusion—the sheen of a lady’s garment, the long fur of a King Charles spaniel—painstakingly rendered in incredible detail. While more “Puritan” early American paintings are also fascinating and noteworthy, it was John Singleton Copley who first truly awoke my interest and breathed life into early American art.
Figure 2. John Smybert, The Bermuda Group (Dean Berkely and His Entourage), 1728–39, oil on canvas, 69.5″ × 93″ (176.5 cm × 236.2 cm), Yale University Art Gallery
Useful Resources on John Singleton Copley
Books
websites
video clips
Books
The books and articles below constitute a bibliography of the sources used in the writing of this page. These also suggest some accessible resources for further research, especially ones that can be found and purchased via the internet.
-
John Singleton Copley in America
by Carrie Rebora -
A Revolution in Color: The World of John Singleton CopleyOur Pick
by Jane Kamensky
-
John Singleton Copley in England
by Emily Ballew Neff and William L. Pressly -
John Singleton Copley and Turkish Fashion in 18th-Century America
by Carrie Rebora Barratt -
American Adversaries: West and Copley in a Transatlantic World
by Emily Ballew Neff, Kaylin H. Weber, and 6 contributors -
John Singleton CopleyOur Pick
by James Thomas Flexner
View more books
websites
video clips
Summary of John Singleton Copley
Having almost single-handedly created a vision of what Federal Period art would be, Copley rightfully takes his seat in the pantheon of great American artists. The supreme colonial artist, and by common consent the greatest American painter of the eighteenth century, his portraits have become symbols for the US’s merchant class and helped mark America’s «coming of age» as an independent nation. Having moved to England, he matched his success in America by adding historical painting to his repertoire. Known as a figure with exquisite artistic and social skills, he became a key figure in the British art scene having been elected into the Royal Academy and receiving royal patronage until the end of his life.
Accomplishments
- Copley’s direct approach to characterization presented a challenge to the more romantic contemporary English society portraits from which he took his lead. His eye for direct observation gave rise to a series of natural portraits that conveyed the nobility and heroism of pioneers of the early American way of life.
- In producing portraits of Paul Revere, and American founding fathers like Samuel Adams and John Hancock, Copley, albeit inadvertently, documented the building of the American nation. His sophisticated early portraits reveal the country’s coming of age as a self-governing entity.
- The excellence of Copley’s portraits could be attributed in part to an academic foundation. A book of Copley’s studies of the human anatomy (now housed at the British Museum) shows that he was making precise anatomical drawings before the age of twenty. His swift ascent and sustained eminence in England meanwhile was a result of his innate ability to handle paint and to produce images that overshadowed anything seen before by an American artist.
- Copley was one of the pioneers of the private exhibition, promoting his art and marketing prints of his own work to mass audiences in England. As a result, Copley’s work saturated the market to a degree that was then unprecedented in the history of commercial art.
