John Singleton CopleyAmerican, 1738–1815Study for "Monmouth Before James II"
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Harvard Art Museums
Cambridge, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1957.225
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
Meanwhile, in the life of John Singleton Copley
The whole life1774–1815 · Workplace
London
c. 1781
Chambers rebukes Copley over the private showing of his picture
“The Death of the Earl of Chatham” made Copley’s name as a history painter, but Sir William Chambers, in an open letter, objected to its being shown privately ahead of the Royal Academy exhibition, accusing the artist of purveying it like a raree-show to sell prints or raffle the picture. Copley wrote a caustic reply one morning and threw it into the fire that evening; engravings from the picture later sold well in England and America.
5 December 1782
The Stars and Stripes in Elkanah Watson’s portrait
After listening to George III’s speech formally acknowledging American independence, Copley paints the Stars and Stripes with a bold hand on a ship in the background of Elkanah Watson’s portrait. Watson himself imagined it to be the first American flag hoisted in Old England.
1791 · Award
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1791 · Membership
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1796
His son goes to Boston to contest the sale of Beacon Hill
Copley had sold his Beacon Hill estate to a syndicate of speculators headed by Dr. Benjamin Joy and, on learning that the buyers knew of a plan to build the Massachusetts State House at the top of the hill, felt himself victimized. He sends his son John, then at the start of a brilliant legal career, to Boston to annul the sale, but in vain; it is not certain he had reason to feel defrauded, since by one estimate the price was three times what he had paid himself.
