Copley, John Singleton

John Singleton (1737-1815), an American historical painter. He was born in Boston of Irish parentage and died in London, where he had resided for some years. Although called an American artist, his subjects, his associations, and his sympathies were British. At an early age, he showed talent for drawing. He was self educated. His first reputation in England was made by a picture called The Boy and the Squirrel, which he sent anonymously to Benjamin West, who exhibited it at the Society of Arts in 1860. It was praised highly by the best English artists. In 1783 Copley was elected a member of the Royal Academy. Some of Copley's most celebrated portraits are of the English Royal family. The Death of Lord Chatham, now in the London National Gallery, is considered Copley's best work. His Siege and Relief of Gibraltar is kept in the council chamber of the Guildhall. Had he returned to his native land and employed his talents on Revolutionary subjects, he would have attained a more prominent place in the history of art. Holmes in The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table alludes to Copley portraits:

The great merchant-uncle, by Copley, full length, sitting in his arm-chair, in a velvet cap and flowered robe, with a globe by him, to show the range of his commercial transactions, and letters with large red seals lying around, one directed conspicuously to The Honorable, etc., etc. Great-grandmother, by the same artist; brown satin, lace very fine, hands superlative, grand old lady, stiffish, but imposing.

The allusion is further explained in a footnote, as follows:

The full-length pictures by Copley I was thinking of are such as may be seen in the Memorial Hall of Harvard University, but many are to be met with in different parts of New England, sometimes in the possession of the poor descendants of the rich gentlefolks in lace ruffles and glistening satins, grandees and grand dames of the ante-Revolutionary period.