{"data":{"description":"Portraiture was in great demand in the American colonies in the mid-1700s, and John Singleton Copley of Boston was foremost among the great portrait artists","title":"John Singleton Copley: America's First Great Portrait Artist","post_type":"page","content":"\u003ch2 style=\"color: #ad8431;\"\u003eAmerica's First Great Portrait Artist\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-2/john-singleton-copley/copley1\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-6645 size-full\" src=\"/images/earlyamerica/copley1.jpg\" alt=\"John Singleton Copley, Boston Portraiture Artist\" width=\"156\" height=\"216\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cp\u003e John Singleton Copley\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003ch3\u003eJohn Singleton Copley\u003c/h3\u003e\r\nBy the mid-1700's the portrait was virtually the only art form available to the American painter. Portraiture was in great demand in the colonies and was sufficient to support a small number of artists.Watson and the Shark\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eForemost among these was John Singleton Copley. Born in Boston in 1738, Copley was influenced by the mezzotints of his stepfather, Peter Pelham, and the portraits of local portrait painter John Smibert. Copley painted both the young and the aged but emphasized setting to convey the desired mood.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eLadies posed before fine furniture and textured draperies; men were surrounded by books and tools, hunting dogs and guns. His style was straightforward and realistic, creating portraits of great strength.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eAmong his many 'subjects' were portraits of John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams and countless lords and ladies of his era, both in America and in London.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003ca href=\"/earlyamerica/early-america-review/volume-2/john-singleton-copley/shark\"\u003e\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-6650 size-full\" src=\"/images/earlyamerica/shark.jpg\" alt=\"Watson and the Shark\" width=\"360\" height=\"278\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cp\u003e Watson and the Shark\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eEventually, Copley wearied of Boston where, he felt, painting was valued only as a useful craft. The public was \"entirely destitute of all just ideas of the arts,\" so he left for London in 1774. After the painter's obligatory tour of Italy and then settling down in London, Copley turned to historical and religious paintings on a grand scale.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eIn London he exhibited his famous Watson and the Shark, depicting a real-life event that occurred in Havana harbor. The painting portrays Brook Watson, a friend of the painter, who, as a boy, lost his leg to a shark while his friends struggle to rescue him in the water. Today, this work is considered to be an early landmark of romanticized contemporary history painting.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eAnother of his major works is The Death of Major Pierson, January 6, 1781.\u003c/p\u003e","menu":[{"path":"lives-early-america","title":"Famous Lives","submenu":[{"path":"lives-early-america/autobiography-benjamin-franklin","title":"Autobiography of Ben Franklin"},{"path":"lives-early-america/ramsays-life-washington","title":"Ramsay's The Life of Washington"},{"path":"lives-early-america/adventures-col-daniel-boone","title":"The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone"},{"path":"lives-early-america/true-story-paul-revere","title":"The True Story of Paul Revere"},{"path":"world-early-america/famous-obits","title":"Famous Obits"},{"path":"portrait","title":"Portraits"},{"path":"rare-images/last-men-revolution","title":"The Last Men of the Revolution"}]},{"path":"freedom-documents","title":"Freedom Documents","submenu":[{"path":"freedom-documents/bill-rights","title":"Bill of Rights"},{"path":"freedom-documents/declaration-independence","title":"Declaration of Independence"},{"path":"freedom-documents/u-s-constitution","title":"The U.S. Constitution"}]},{"path":"world-early-america","title":"World of Early America","submenu":[{"path":"bookmarks","title":"Early American Bookmarks"},{"path":"world-early-america/famous-obits","title":"Famous Obits"},{"path":"firsts","title":"Firsts!"},{"path":"rare-images/maps","title":"Maps"},{"path":"rare-images","title":"Rare Images"},{"path":"music1","title":"Music"},{"path":"writings","title":"The Writings of Early America"}]},{"path":"boston-massacre","title":"Boston Massacre"},{"path":"milestone-events","title":"Milestones"},{"path":"early-america-review","title":"The Review"},{"path":"home/teachers-students","title":"Teachers"},{"path":"sitemap","title":"Sitemap"}]},"success":true}