John Singleton Copley

American, 1738-1815

BiographyJohn Singleton Copley (1738 – 1815) was an American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects.

Family tradition that speaks of his precocity in drawing, nothing is known of Copley's schooling or of the other activities of his boyhood. His letters, the earliest of which is dated September 30, 1762, reveal a fairly well-educated man.
Copley was virtually self-taught as a portraitist. By meticulously recording details, he created powerful characterizations of his Boston sitters. After he emigrated to London in 1774, Copley began to specialize in narrative scenes from history and joined the influential artistic institution, the Royal Academy of Art. Copley demonstrated a genius, in both his American and British periods, for rendering surface textures and capturing emotional immediacy.

National gallery of Art

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