Copley, << KOP lee, >> John Singleton (1738-1815), is generally considered the greatest portrait painter in colonial America. His many superb portraits capture the character of Americans in settings of everyday life. He painted with remarkable directness and vitality, making rich use of color, texture, and light and shade.
Copley was born on July 3, 1738, in Boston. In 1766, he sent Boy with a Squirrel to a London exhibition. The painters Sir Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West praised this charming portrait and recommended that Copley study in Europe. Copley was having great success in America, so he put off going to London until 1774. He settled there permanently, and his portraits soon took on the brilliant looser brushwork and atmospheric quality characteristic of British painting.
In 1778, Copley began a career as a painter of historical subjects, fulfilling a lifelong ambition. He painted many historical works, the most successful being Watson and the Shark (1778) and The Death of Lord Chatham (1781). After 1790, Copley’s work gradually declined. He died on Sept. 9, 1815.
In the past, critics praised Copley’s straightforward, vivid American portraits and were critical of the lavish portraits and large historical paintings he did in England. Today critics still praise his American works, but they view his English works with less disfavor than in the past.
