Dorothy Murray (1743-1811)

1750s

Self-education: engravings and anatomical studies

Copley is largely self-taught, copying engravings after Godfrey Kneller, Joshua Reynolds and other masters. A book of his studies of the figure, now at the British Museum, shows that before he was twenty he was making anatomical drawings with much care and precision.

1753–1774 · Werkzaam in

Boston

October 1757

An invitation to paint portraits in Nova Scotia

Capt. Thomas Ainslie, collector of the Port of Quebec, writes from Halifax acknowledging his portrait with great satisfaction and advises Copley to visit Nova Scotia, where several people would gladly employ him. The invitation was later repeated from Quebec; Copley replied that he would be glad to accept but had a large room full of unfinished pictures that would keep him busy for twelve months.

1760s

A needy tobacconist’s son among Boston’s elite

The income Copley earned by painting in the 1760s was extraordinary for his town and time and raised the son of a needy tobacconist into the local aristocracy. The foremost personages of New England came to his painting-room as sitters.

30 September 1762

Asks Liotard for Swiss pastel crayons

Copley writes to the Swiss painter Jean-Étienne Liotard asking for a set of the best Swiss crayons for drawing portraits, in the hope that America will one day become a school of the fine arts. The pastels arrive and are put to use; Copley was a pioneer American pastellist.