John Singleton Copley Self-Portrait

1774–1815 · Munkahely

London

second half of the 1770s

A turn to history painting

In London Copley follows the fashion set by West and begins to paint historical pieces as well as portraits; together they create a new kind of history painting with modern subjects, chiefly the deaths of heroes, and scrupulous attention to contemporary detail. His first such work, “Watson and the Shark”, is based on the story of Brook Watson, who as a boy of fourteen was attacked by a shark while swimming in Havana harbour.

1779

Becomes an Academician of the Royal Academy

Copley is elected a full Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, three years after becoming an associate. Other accounts place his election to full membership in 1783.

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.